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In advance of a communitywide meeting on May 19 to consider a major overhaul in the way Berkeley High School delivers its academic programs, small groups of high school staff and parents have met weekly to ponder the question.

At issue is whether the school could address chronic problems – truancy, violence, the achievement gap and high teacher turnover, to name a few – by dividing the school’s 3,200 students into a number of “small learning communities.” Such communities allow teachers to give students more individualized attention, the argument goes, so those with special needs are less likely to “fall through the cracks.”

At a Thursday meeting at the North Berkeley Senior Center, about 25 people, mostly Berkeley High parents and staff, listened to an informal panel describe what Berkeley High was like in the 1970s, when the school launched a dozen short-lived small learning communities with the help of a $7 million federal grant.

Most of the panelists either studied or taught at Berkeley High in the ’70s.

“A school as large as Berkeley High has to be broken down into smaller schools,” said panelist Arnold Perkins, a Berkeley High parent, who taught at a couple of the experimental small-learning communities in the ’70s.

“Something different has to be done at Berkeley High,” added Perkins. “It is not working. It is actually destroying (kids’) lives.”

Perkins said the small learning communities of the ’70s gave teachers a unique opportunity to make classroom lessons more relevant to students. Through a program known as Black House, Perkins and other teachers worked to give African-American students a broader exposure to black history than they would have found in the school’s existing history classes.

“If you think you don’t come from any place but slavery,” then there is a limit to how much American history you want to learn, said Perkins who is African American.

Former Berkeley High teacher Susan Groves, another panelist, said student attendance problems in the ’70s were even worse than today, with up to a third of the school’s students skipping class regularly. Groves said she and other like-minded teachers got together on their lunch breaks and formed a radical plan to re-engage students by creating a small learning community.

Such communities give teachers the flexibility they need to respond to students’ needs, Groves said, recalling how she and other teachers in the program created individual projects for students who were missing class to draw them back in.

“We have to develop courses that both students and teachers feel is appropriate for this period in time,” Groves said Thursday.

It was experiments in small learning communities that forced the high school’s curriculum to expand into new areas of particular interest to students in the later half of the 20th century, Groves argued, pointing to courses in black studies, women’s studies and environmental studies that were offered for the first time in the ’70s.

“The feeling of being in a huge school but having a small community was really fantastic,” said another panelist, a woman who studied at one of Berkeley High’s former small learning communities .

But she added an important caveat.

“I’m not sure it actually gave us the best education,” she said. “I think it might have been a scramble for a lot of kids when they got to college.”

The trick, according to Perkins, is create small learning communities that give teachers the freedom to innovate, but aren’t so amorphous that less disciplined kids lose focus altogether.

“How do you not be so liberal (that) you let them do anything they want?” Perkins asked said.

Groves said the communities have to be held accountable. School district administrators never supported the small learning communities in the ’70s, she said, with the result that no evaluation process was ever put in place to see where they were succeeding and where they were failing.

The school district “has never really cared very much about evaluation,” Groves said.

“It becomes anecdotal. How can we move ahead if we don’t have some kind of formal evaluation?...We forget what has already been tried (and) keep reinventing the wheel.”

Rick Ayers, the Berkeley High teacher who is coordinating the discussions around small learning communities, said that today, unlike in the ’70s, both the school board and the teacher’s union have shown interest small learning communities and their potential.

Still, Berkeley High parent Jahlee Arakaki wasn’t convinced Thursday. While she conceded that the school was in “dire need” of some reform, she said it was too early to say if the small communities offered a solution to existing problems.

What happens, she asked, if “some kids get totally immersed in (a small community) and then others feel they can’t join?”

Berkeley High teacher Judy Bodenhausen said specialized programs already in place at Berkeley High, like the Communication Arts and Sciences program (whose limited spaces are highly coveted by students each year) have already created a two-tier system at the school.

If small learning communities are to be implemented, Bodenhausen said, they ought to be done in such that students can participate in some of a community’s offerings regardless of whether they are fully enrolled in that community.

Ayers said small learning communities would be “a disaster” if certain programs were identified as the elite programs while others became “default” programs. But he said Berkeley High has historically had a two-tier system, with whites and Asians dominating the higher-level course offerings. Small learning communities could undo this segregation by actively recruiting students from different backgrounds and working to unite them in a common endeavor, he said.

All community members are invited to weigh in on small learning communities at the high school at the May 19 meeting, scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Berkeley Alternative High School, 2701 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. For more information contact Rick Ayers at 644-4586.

Saturday, May 5

Free Sailboat Rides

1 - 4 p.m.

Cal Sailing Club

Berkeley Marina

The Cal Sailing Club, a non-profit sailing and windsurfing cooperative, give free rides on a first come, first served bases on the first full weekend of each month. Wear warm clothes and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. Children must be at least five years old and must be accompanies by an adult. www.cal-sailing.org

Berkeley Farmers’ Market

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street

548-3333

Tooth Man!

10:30 a.m.

Berkeley Main Library

2121 Allston Way

Tooth Man, a.k.a. Matt Perry, returns by popular demand to fascinate children with his collection of teeth from animals large and small.

Health Access/LifeSpan and Self Help for the Hard of Hearing (SHHH) are co-sponsoring free hearing screenings in recognition of Better Hearing and Speech Month. Free

869-6737

Women’s Evening at the Movies

7:30 - 10 p.m.

Pacific Center

2712 Telegraph Ave.

Jennifer Tilly stars in “Bound,” as a mob man’s mistress who becomes lovers with a sexy handywoman. Join a great group of bi, lesbian, transgender and queer women to watch the flick and munch on junk food. $5 donation requested

548-8283

www.pacificcenter.org

Owner as Contractor

10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Building Education Center

812 Page St.

Legal aspects discussed by attorney Sterling Johnson. $75.

525-7610

Painting

10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Building Education Center

812 Page St.

“Tricks of the Trade” taught by painting contractor Scott Perry. $75.

525-7610

Mediterranean Herbs

1:30 p.m.

UC Botanical Garden

200 Centennial Drive

Tour of herbs. Learn myths and legends, ideas for planting in home gardens.

“Cosmopolititanism, Human Rights and Sovereignty in the New Europe” is the topic. Alain Touraine of the University of Paris will speak at noon addressing the question, “Is it Possible to Create a European Citizenship?”. Continued from Friday. Free and open to the public. 643-5777

Sunday, May 6

Cinco de Mayo Celebration

10:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Civic Center Park

MLK between Center and Allston

Featuring live latin music and dancing, food and and arts and crafts. Free. 549-9166

Reimagining Pacific Cities

6 - 8:30 p.m.

New Pacific Studio

1523 Hearst Ave.

“How are Pacific cities reshaping their cultural and environmental institutions to better serve the needs and enhance the present and future quality of life of all segments of their societies?” A series of ten seminars linking the Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, and other pacific cities. $10 per meeting.

849-0217

Free Sailboat Rides

1 - 4 p.m.

Cal Sailing Club

Berkeley Marina

The Cal Sailing Club, a non-profit sailing and windsurfing cooperative, give free rides on a first come, first served bases on the first full weekend of each month. Wear warm clothes and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. Children must be at least five years old and must be accompanies by an adult.

www.cal-sailing.org

BAHA House Tour

1 - 5 p.m.

Live Oak Park

Sponsored by the Berkeley Historical Society and the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. Tour will include the early work of architects Julia Morgan, Bernard Maybeck and Henry Gutterson.

$25 - $32

841-2242

Tibetan Nyingma Institute Open House

3 - 5 p.m.

Tibetan Nyingma Institute

1815 Highland Place

A free introduction to Tibetan Buddhist culture including a Tibetan yoga demonstration, a talk on the relevance of Buddhism in today’s world, a prayer wheel and meditation garden tour. 843-6812

Faith, Doubt and Refuge

6 p.m.

Tibetan Nyingma Institute

1815 Highland Place

What does this mean in the Buddhist tradition? Talk by Sylvia Gretchen, dean of Nyingma Studies at the institute. Free and open to the public. 843-6812

Rhododendron Walk

10 a.m.

UC Botanical Garden

200 Centennial Drive

See more than 200 species. $3 admission. Limited space, call for reservation.

643-2755

— compiled by

Sabrina Forkish

Monday, May 7

Beginning Bicyclist Workshop

7 - 9 p.m.

YMCA

2001 Allston Way

Community Room 1, Main Floor

Jason Meggs and Zed Lopez will teach you how to keep yourself and your bike safe and even how to use your bike for shopping. Free

Call Jason Meggs, 549-RIDE

Words Hurt

7:30 - 9 p.m.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center

1414 Walnut St.

Rabbi David Ordan will discuss the seriousness of gossip and it’s effects.

$10

848-0237

Skin Cancer Screening Clinic

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center

Summit Campus

2450 Ashby Ave.

Markstein Cancer Education Center

Skin cancer screenings are offered only to people who, due to limited or no health insurance, would be able to have a suspicious mole or other skin changes examined. Appointments are required.

869-8833

Rent Stabilization Board Meeting

7 p.m.

2134 MLK Jr. Way

Council Chambers, 2nd floor

Closed session “Hanerfeld v. City of Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board.” The rest of the meeting is open to the public.

644-6128

Tuesday, May 8

Berkeley Camera Club

7:30 p.m.

Northbrae Community Church

941 The Alameda

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips.

Call Wade, 531-8664

Young Queer Women’s Group

8 - 9:30 p.m.

Pacific Center

2712 Telegraph Ave.

Make some new friends, expand your horizons and get support with a bunch of queer women all in the same place at the same time (somewhere between 18 and 25).

548-8283 or visit www.pacificcenter.org

Berkeley Farmers’ Market

2 - 7 p.m.

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street

548-3333

Religious Identity for Interfaith Families

7:30 - 9:30 p.m.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center

1414 Walnut St.

Explore the process of choosing a religion for parents and children in interfaith families with a minister, and Rabbi Jane Litman.

$5

848-0237 x127

Home Design

7 - 10 p.m.

Building Education Center

812 Page St.

Second Tuesday of workshop taught by architect/contractor Barry Wagner. Continues weekly through May 22. $150 for four evenings.

525-7610

Blackout Summer

7 p.m.

Berkeley’s Ecology Center

2530 San Pablo Ave. (at Dwight)

Bruno Henriquez is from Cuba, which experienced rolling blackouts for more than half a decade and has promoted conservation and alternative energy production. Henriquez is director of Cuba’s solar energy agency.

548-2220 ext. 234

Take the Burn Out of Heartburn

Ashby Campus Auditorium

2450 Ashby Ave.

12:30 - 2 p.m.

Learn about gastro-esophageal reflux disease and surgery to correct the condition. Free.

Gregory Bateson wrote a book in the 1970s called “Towards an Ecology of Mind.” It influenced Gov. Jerry Brown enough that the Gregory Bateson Building was constructed in Sacramento on his watch, featuring as many “green” features as available at the time.

Time to be mindful again of energy issues, pollution, transit, and infill housing for people of modest income. That’s precisely what the planned development of 48 low and moderate income apartments at 2700 San Pablo is all about.

Time to transform environmentalists who want to support a better local and global environment into ecologists, that is, into people who see the interconnection of parts in living, whole systems as fundamental to healthy ways of living in our communities and building our communities.

Time to take the quotation marks off “progressives” who oppose density in places that support housing for the people who need it and transform them into real progressives who support such housing.

It sounds like news from Mars to a lot of people, but urban form stands at the foundation of either a healthy or dysfunctional way of urban living.

By urban form, we who ponder such things and try to apply ecological thinking to our communities, mean thinly scattered automobile-dependent development is too expensive in every way imaginable: for low income people forced to buy cars and gasoline, for energy reserves, for the health of native plants and animals, for global climate stability. The urban form that works best on all those counts is pedestrian/transit centers oriented development of modest density - and the proposed 4 stories of the 2700 San Pablo fits well into such a density range.

Higher density along transit corridors is an important interim step and a parallel development strategy that goes along with centers-oriented development. It will sound like a quibble to those who have not thought about urban form very much, but centers allow even more benefits than corridors, and make it possible to contemplate means to create more open spaces in our cities, such as enough spaces to imagine opening buried creeks and expanding community gardens and parks. But by being located on one of the city’s best AC Transit corridors, 2700 San Pablo takes us a long way in that direction.

Ecocity Builders, in supporting this project, would prefer it if the building were car-free by rental agreement and did not have the 61 parking space for 48 units. This promotion of the automobile with all its detriments is crammed down the throats of developers and the ordinance that forces this out-dated means of damaging the planet should be overturned. However, while educating about that, we need to at least address the city’s poor housing construction record and build enough apartments to make a dent on the problem. And we need to put that housing in the right place to help build up efficient transit in a time of energy crisis.

Richard Register

Berkeley

Four stories ‘good,’ but not for the developers

Editor:

Developers everywhere try to convince City Councils, to whom they have given money, that they know better what an area needs than the people who live there.

Gordon Choyce II takes his home owner exemption on a lovely house, situated on a quiet cul-de-sac, in the El Sobrante hills, where there isn’t a 4 story building in sight. Patrick Kennedy rides down from his hill in Piedmont, an area not known for apartments or affordable housing.

Together, they act in a paternalistic and patronizing fashion towards the neighbors, implying they know best what San Pablo’s future should be, and calling the neighbors of their pending project NIMBYs and worse. The neighbors, on the other hand are not fighting housing, affordable or low income, but are fighting density and height. They welcome housing and are realistic about its need. I hope our council will consider the impacted neighborhood when voting on the project.

R. Vimont

Berkeley

‘Special interest’: saving the neighborhood

Editor:

Harry Pollack’s defense (4/30/01) of the ill-conceived and outsized development project proposed for the landmarked Byrne site at 1301 Oxford St. would be just another in the long PR campaign to defend an indefensible project were it not for a remarkable assertion he makes in his opening paragraph: that considerations of the size, siting and details of the project are being driven by “special interests.” Special interests?

We’ve always understood that to mean political players that exercise undue influence because of their power and connections. Given how easily this development project has moved through the approval process, which of the players here might qualify as a special interest?

Is Codornices Creek a special interest? Are Alameda Creeks Alliance, Friends of Five Creeks, Urban Creeks Council, Sierra Club (San Francisco Bay Chapter), Center for Biological Diversity, International Rivers Network, Berkeley Community Gardening Collaborative, Eco-City Builders, Berkeley Eco-House, California Oak Foundation, and the Golden Gate Chapter of the Audubon Society, all of which have joined the neighborhood association in appealing the Use Permit to the City Council, special interests?

The choice is not between the synagogue’s plan and the continued neglect of the site, which has been owned by Congregation Beth El for more than three years now. Applications are currently pending for funds to acquire access to and improve this site as a resource for all Berkeley residents, far beyond what the current development proposal will do. The synagogue’s own creeks expert has criticized its proposal. And it is possible to place a religious institution on the southern portion of the Byrne site while preserving the entire riparian corridor to the north.

Is the maintenance of the residential neighborhood character of the neighborhood surrounding the Byrne site a special interest? For the applicants to suggest that characterization underscores the take-it-or-leave-it approach of the congregation’s leaders.

To understand what’s at issue, stand at the Oxford Street gate to the Byrne property, and take in the planned building that currently is marked off by story poles. It is approximately a football field in length. Then walk over to the Safeway on Henry St. just south of Rose. The building Beth El is seeking to build is only slightly smaller in floor area than that supermarket. It will house not only the synagogue sanctuary but offices, a day care facility, classrooms for a number of programs, a large and expandable social space and a library. It will be in use, according to synagogue leaders’ testimony, from 7 a.m. until late into the evening, and unlike the current facility, will be used for large weekend parties.

Count the number of parking spaces in Safeway’s lot, including the underground spaces. Or in the parking lot at St. Mary Magdalene, or St. John’s on College St., or at the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley. Then compare: to accommodate the many users of this building, the applicant will provide on the Oxford Street site all of 32 parking places, leaving the balance of the cars it attracts to be absorbed by the neighborhood.

“Balance” is the mantra used by Beth El’s leaders since they first proposed this project. Their interest in balance appears to stop at both the boundaries of the Byrne property and the limits of the congregation’s interests.

We cannot believe this is the balance Beth El’s congregants seek. If it is, there remains no question who the true special interest is in the case of 1301 Oxford St.

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels like an earthworm, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. “Recycling Center” Lets the kids crank the conveyor belt to sort cans, plastic bottles and newspaper bundles into dumpster bins, and become little “dump” workers. $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Sundays, Memorial Day through Labor Day) Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 647-1111 or www.habitot.org

Judah L. Magnes Museum “Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season” Through May 2002 An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical 2911 Russell St. 549-6950

UC Berkeley Art Museum “Joe Brainard: A Retrospective,” Through May 27. The selections include 150 collages, assemblages, paintings, drawings, and book covers. Brainard’s art is characterized by its humor and exuberant color, and by its combinations of media and subject matter. “Ricky Swallow/Matrix 191,” Including new sculptures and drawings; Through May 27 $6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; children age 12 and under free; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and Wednesday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley 642-0808

The Asian Galleries “Art of the Sung: Court and Monastery” A display of early Chinese works from the permanent collection. “Chinese Ceramics and Bronzes: The First 3,000 Years,” open-ended. “Works on Extended Loan from Warren King,” open-ended. “Three Towers of Han,” open-ended. $6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 642-0808

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 by 40-foot replica of the fearsome dinosaur made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. “Pteranodon” A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22-23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. Free. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology “Approaching a Century of Anthropology: The Phoebe Hearst Museum,” open-ended. This new permanent installation will introduce visitors to major topics in the museum’s history.“Ishi and the Invention of Yahi Culture,” ongoing.This exhibit documents the culture of the Yahi Indians of California as described and demonstrated from 1911 to 1916 by Ishi, the last surviving member of the tribe. $2 general; $1 seniors; $.50 children age 17 and under; free on Thursdays. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way and College Ave. 643-7648

Lawrence Hall of Science “Math Rules!” A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge.“Within the Human Brain” Ongoing. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning experiments. “T. Rex on Trial,” Through May 28 Where was T. Rex at the time of the crime? Learn how paleontologists decipher clues to dinosaur behavior. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza. Computer Lab, Saturdays 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. $7 for adults; $5 for children 5-18; $3 for children 3-4. 642-5132

Holt Planetarium Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. “Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18; $3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu

924 Gilman St. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership. All ages. May 5: Shikabane, Phobia, Harum Scarum, Vulgar Pigeons, Insidious Sorrow; May 11: Subincision, Next to Nothing, Fracus, Thrice, The Average Joe; May 12: The Sick, Impalid, Creuvo, Tearing Down Standards. 525-9926

“The Children’s Hour” May 5 & 12, 8 p.m. and May 13, 4 p.m. The Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Arlene Sagan will perform Julian White’s piece along with Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia and selections from Randall Thompson’s Frostiana, poems of Robert Frost set to music. Free St. Joseph the Worker Church 1640 Addison St. 528-2145

Music & Dance of Bali May 5, 8 p.m. & May 6, 2 p.m. Gamelan Sekar Jaya, the Bay Area 45-member ensemble, will perform music and dance from Bali under the direction of Balinese guest artists I Made Subandi and Ni Ketut Arini. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 www.juliamorgan.org

Music of the Big Band Era May 6, 2 p.m. Featuring the music of Glenn Miller, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Claude Thornhill, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Stan Kenton. $15 Longfellow School of the Arts 1500 Derby St. (at Sacramento) 420-4560

Berkeley Opera Gala Concert May 12, 7 p.m. Berkeley Opera singers and special guest artists will be joined by Music Director, Jonathan Khuner and members of the Berkeley Opera Orchestra to provide entertainment highlighting the 2001 theme, “Opera Uncensored.” Also a silent auction, balloon raffle, champagne and more. $15 - $40 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300

Mother’s Day Celebration May 13, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Albany Big Band will play from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. followed at 2 p.m. by Wine Country Brass. Picnic fare will be available fom Classic Catering, or bring food from home. Flowers for sale. 525-3005

Tribu May 17, 8 p.m. Direct from Mexico, Tribu plays a concert of ancestral music of the Mayan, Aztec, Olmec, Zapotec, Purerpecha, Chichimec, Otomi, and Toltec. Tribu have reconstructed and rescued some of the oldest music in the Americas. $12 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 or www.lapena.org

“Grease” May 5, 11, 12, 8 p.m. and May 6, 2 p.m. By Berkeley High Performing Arts Department. Rock-musical set in late 1950’s explores teen issues. A classic. $6 Little Theater Allston Way between MLK and Milvia 524-9754

“The Oresteia” by Aeschylus Through May 6 Directed by Tony Taccone and Stephen Wadsworth, Aeschylus trilogy will be the first production staged on the Berkeley Rep’s new prosenium stage. Please call Berkeley Repertory Theatre for specific dates and times. $15.99 - $117 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. (at Shattuck) 647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org

“Death of a Salesman” Through May 5, Friday & Saturday, 8 p.m. plus Thursday, May 3, 8 p.m. The ageless story of Willy Loman presented by an African-American cast and staged by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. $10 Live Oak Theater 1301 Shattuck (at Berryman) 528-5620

“Big Love” by Charles L. Mee Through June 10 Directed by Les Waters and loosely based on the Greek Drama, “The Suppliant Woman,” by Aeschylus. Fifty brides who are being forced to marry fifty brothers flee to a peaceful villa on the Italian coast in search of sanctuary. $15.99 - $51 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2025 Addison St. 647-2949

Shotgun Players “Slings and Arrows: love stories from Shakespearean tragedies” written and directed by Rebecca Goodberg and developed by the ensemble and “Blue Roses” conceptualized and directed by Christian Schneider. Discussions with the audience will follow each show. Thursday-Sunday, 7 p.m. through May 5. $10 La Val’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. 655-0813

The far side of the moon through May 5, 8 p.m. May 5, 2 p.m. and May 6, 3 p.m. A solo performance by Canadian writer, actor and director Robert Lepage with an original score by Laurie Anderson. $30 - $46 Zellerbach Playhouse Bancroft at Dana UC Berkeley 642-9988

Films

“A Ship with Painted Sails: The Fabulous Animation of Karel Zeman” May 5: 7 p.m. Journey to the Beginning of Time, 8:35 p.m. The Treasure of Bird Island May 11: 7 p.m. Zeman Shorts, 8:55 p.m. The Fabulous World of Jules Verne May 12: 7 p.m. Baron Munchausen, 9:10 p.m. Kraba - The Sorcerer’s Apprentice May 13: 5:30 The Thousand and One Nights, 7:05 p.m. The Tale of John and Mary. Admission: $7 for one film, $8.50 for double bills. Pacific Film Archive Theater 2575 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch) 642-1412

“Women’s Evening at the Movies” May 5, 7:30 - 10 p.m. Jennifer Tilly stars in “Bound,” as a mob man’s mistress who becomes lovers with a sexy handywoman. Join a great group of bi, lesbian, transgender and queer women to watch the flick and munch on junk food. $5 donation requested Pacific Center 2712 Telegraph Ave. 548-8283 or www.pacificcenter.org

“Mirele Efros” May 13, 2 - 4:30 p.m. Jacob Gordin’s classic story set in turn-of the century Grodno. A classic study in family relations. Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center Cinema 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 x127

“New Draft Programme of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA” May 9, 7 p.m. Take part in a discussion of this blueprint for fighting and winning a revolution in the United States. Revolution Books 2425C Channing Way 848-1196

Paul Polansky and Voice of Roma May 10, 3 p.m. Polansky’s poetry gives voice to the Kosovo Roma and their plight in the aftermath of their plight in the aftermath of the 1999 war. Free Kroeber Hall Gifford Room Second Floor (at College and Bancroft in Anthropology Building) 981-1352

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tours All tours begin at 10 a.m. and are restricted to 30 people per tour $5 - $10 per tour May 12: Debra Badhia will lead a tour of the Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the Arts District; May 19: John Stansfield & Allen Stross will lead a tour of the School for the Deaf and Blind; June 2: Trish Hawthorne will lead a tour of Thousand Oaks School and Neighborhood; June 23: Sue Fernstrom will lead a tour of Strawberry Creek and West of the UC Berkeley campus 848-0181

Lectures

California Colloquium on Water Scholars of distinction in the fields of natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities, law and environmental design speak about water resources and hopefully contribute to informed decisions on water in California. May 8, 5:15 - 6:30 p.m.: “What Makes Water Wet?” Richard Saykally, professor of Chemistry, UC Berkeley (refreshments served in 410 O’Brien Hall at 4:15 p.m.) 212 O’Brien Hall, UC Berkeley 642-2666

Berkeley 1900 May 7, 7 p.m. Richard Schwartz, author of Berkeley 1900, a book about life at the turn of the 19th century, will speak at the Friends of Five Creeks’ monthly meeting. Albany Community Center (downstairs) 1249 Marin 848-9358

Peopling of the Pacific May 11, 8 p.m. Dr. Patrick Kirch, department of Anthropology, UC Berkeley, will review results of archaeological research in the Pacific Islands, providing a current overview of Oceanic prehistory. 370 Dwinelle Hall UC Berkeley 415-338-1537

The Berkeley Yellowjackets had to feel confident heading into Friday’s game against Pinole Valley at Cal’s Evans Diamond. They had a 1 1/2 game lead on the second-place Spartans, and they had ace Moses Kopmar, who had three-hit Pinole Valley earlier in the year, headed for the mound. But two hours later, they had taken a 3-0 loss that puts the league title back up for grabs, and Kopmar was sitting in the dugout after leaving the game with an injury.

The Spartans (12-4 overall, 6-2 ACCAL), on the other hand, had just avenged the earlier loss to Berkeley (16-5, 7-2) and put themselves back in the hunt with a dominating pitching performance by Kirk Koehler. Koehler went the distance, giving up just three hits while striking out eight, seven of them looking.

“I’ve been waiting for this game,” Koehler said afterwards. “After they beat us, I just wanted to pitch against them. This is what I’ve been practicing for.”

Koehler only allowed one runner past second base, keeping the ’Jackets off balance by mixing his fastball with three different off-speed pitches. The Berkeley hitters looked alternately baffled and frustrated, summed up by shortstop Jason Moore’s ejection in the final inning for throwing his bat after being called out on strikes for the second time.

“We just ran into a hot pitcher we couldn’t get to,” Berkeley head coach Tim Moellering said.

Kopmar couldn’t duplicate his dominance over the Spartans, giving up four hits, including two doubles and a home run, in just three innings of work. Outfielder Marcus Maxwell hit him in the pitching arm with a line drive in the second, but Moellering said he took Kopmar out before the fourth because the pitcher had strained his groin.

The Spartans were on Kopmar early, hitting the ball hard three times in the first inning, but Berkeley escaped with two nice plays by Moore. But Marcus Davis started the second inning with a ringing double. One out later, Maxwell hit Kopmar, scoring Davis. Designated hitter Tom Ruelas followed with a blast over the left field wall, earning an enthusiastic greeting at home plate by his teammates. Kopmar walked the next two batters and looked to be in trouble, but got out of the jam by blowing the ball by Spartan shortstop Tim Torres.

Kopmar made it through the next inning, but something was clearly amiss with his delivery, and he was replaced by sophomore Sean Souders to start the fourth. The Spartans had a tough time adjusting from the fireballing Kopmar to crafty lefthander Souders, and managed just one run for the remainder of the game. Even that run was of the scratch variety, as Miguel Bernard reached first on a dropped third strike, was bunted to second, got to third on a wild pitch and scored on a swinging bunt by catcher Ryan Kiss.

But that didn’t matter, as Koehler shut down the ’Jackets for the shutout.

“We just came out here with nothing to lose,” he said. “We want to pretend we’re in last place, working our way to the top. It makes us play harder.”

Moellering kept a smile on his face despite the loss of both the game and his star pitcher.

“Well, this just makes the race more exciting,” he said. “It just means we have to win the rest of our games. I always thought we would be the top two teams, and it came down to it today.”

Four years ago Jim Cisney had a vision for the Northside Community Art Garden.

The garden, located along side the BART tracks on Northside Street, needed a tool shed, and he was interested in building a non-traditional structure.

“I was looking for something that was in my budget. I figured there’s nothing cheaper than dirt,” he said.

With the design and commitment of Berkeley architect John Fordice and the volunteer efforts of nearly 100 community members, including Cisney, a sustainable earth wall building called Troth was presented to the community Sunday at a dedication ceremony and potluck.

“What started as a dream became an obsession,” Fordice said. “Without the inspiration and energy of all those who came to help over the past three and one half years, this building would not have been possible.”

The name Troth comes from the word betrothal. Fordice chose the name to represent humanity’s faithfulness and commitment to the earth.

“It is dedicated to the spirit that we can do things in a way that is giving of ourselves to what the world really needs, rather than what we need,” Fordice said.

The tool shed was Fordice’s first successful large-scale cob construction. Cob is a mixture of earth, clay-bearing soil, sand and straw that when mixed together creates a natural cement. It makes up the walls of the dedicated structure at Northside Community Art Garden.

As an architect, Fordice says that although he enjoys his profession, it can be restrictive. This project provided a way for him to integrate art and eco-technology with his knowledge of architecture.

In 1995 he attended a workshop on building with cob in Oregon. Since then he has worked on a few small projects and is scheduled to construct a cob greenhouse at Malcolm X Elementary School in south Berkeley.

“Troth is the first full building that I was able to complete from the ground up,” Fordice said. “I want this to be accessible to everybody, but ultimately I want it to be accessible to me.”

Fordice said his goal is to make a living building with cob.

Atop the building’s sod roof, pink flowers bloom. Like welcoming, outstretched arms, two cob benches extend from the sides between which French doors swing open as the entrance into the shed.

And though the cob building does serve a purpose for the garden, many people see it as much more than just an ordinary tool shed.

“John has introduced cob into contemporary construction. Troth proves that shelter can be created out of the very earth upon which we stand,” said Berkeley City Councilmember Linda Maio. “I have a hard time calling this a tool shed because to me it’s a work of art.”

Maio presented Fordice with two proclamations from the city, one in recognition of Fordice’s commitment to Troth and the other in honor of his role in “ rebirthing the art of cob construction.”

The dedication program included an extensive thank you list of contributors. In addition to dirt, numerous materials and contributions from the community were needed to fund the project that took about three years to complete. Raw materials and resources were donated by dozens of local and bay area businesses, the city and dedicated members of the Northside garden.

“I think Jim (Cisney)’s vision was that we all come together as a community in a big party. It was kind of a much longer haul than we expected,” said Eileen Theimer, project coordinator.

What was initially anticipated to take a few months, stretched into a few years due in part to poor weather conditions on the weekends. It took half a year to get a third of the mud wall up according to Theimer.

“This was a tremendous amount of work. Frankly, most of the gardeners got burned out. It was very demanding in terms of time and energy,” Cisney said.

But the hard work did not go unappreciated. About 200 people attended the dedication ceremony and brought food to participate in the potluck.

The Northside Community Art Garden is one of three gardens contained within the greater HopPer Commons. Along with Northside, the Karl Linn Garden and the Peralta Garden are all located within walking distance of one another at the cross-streets Hopkins and Peralta. Open to the public, the gardens provide a community space that can be reserved for various functions and used for gardening, relaxation, workshops, celebrations and neighborhood meetings.

Originally the property of BART, the city is currently leasing the land upon which the gardens exist.

“I’ve watched this land be transformed from a ratty lot into this magical garden,” said Laura Paradise. Paradise lives within walking distance of the garden and plans to hold a yoga class and poetry reading there next month.

More than 75 people hold annual memberships and share planter boxes throughout the three gardens. An annual membership is $15 per person.

“What makes this place unique is that people feel free to express themselves creatively, to feel acknowledged and supported in their creativity,” Linn said.

To volunteer, become a member, contribute art or plan an event contact Herb Weber, HopPer Commons Association coordinator, at 351-3075.

Tuesday, June 5

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips.

Call Wade, 531-8664

Berkeley Farmers’ Market

2 - 7 p.m.

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street

548-3333

Young Queer Women’s Group

8 - 9:30 p.m.

Pacific Center

2712 Telegraph Ave.

Make some new friends, expand your horizons and get support with a bunch of queer women all in the same place at the same time

548-8283 www.pacificcenter.org

Intelligent Conversation

7 - 9 p.m.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center

A discussion group open to all, regardless of age, religion, viewpoint, etc. This time the discussion topic is open and will follow the conversation. Informally led by Robert Berend, who founded similar groups in L.A., Menlo Park, and Prague. Bring light snacks/drinks to share. Free

527-5332

Bike for a Better City Action

Meeting

6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

1356 Rose St.

www.bfbc.org

Groundbreaking of ARTech

Building

9 a.m.

ARTech Building

2101 Milvia St.

Computer Technologies Program celebrates the groundbreaking of its new offices in the ARTech building.

Wednesday, June 6

Fishbowl: “Everything you

always wanted to know about

the opposite sex but were

afraid to ask”

7 p.m.. to 9 p.m.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center

1414 Walnut St.

Find out what the other half really thinks! The Fishbowl is an interesting way to anonymously ask those burning questions. $8 for BRJCC members, $10 for general public. 848-0237 x127.

South Berkeley Community

Action Team Advisory Group

Meeting

7 p.m.

Over 60’s Clinic

3260 Sacramento, 2nd Floor

All South and West Berkeley residents invited to the regular meeting. Among other agenda items, the planning of upcoming Town Hall meeting. Refreshments provided.

665-6809

ASAP Open House

5 - 8 p.m.

2070 Allston Way, Suite 2

Access to Software for All People is having its 6th annual open house and invites the public to welcome new Executive Director John Kittredge. Refreshments and presentations of ASAP Web Design and Data Management, as well as work by high school employees.

540-7457

Thursday, June 7

Berkeley Metaphysical

Toastmasters Club

6:15 - 7:30 p.m.

2515 Hillegass Ave.

Public speaking skills and metaphysics come together. Ongoing first and third Thursdays each month.

Call 869-2547

Berkeley Unified School

District

Appreciation Dinner

6 p.m.

Berkeley Alternative High School

2701 MLK Jr. Way

Berkeley Unified School District Office of State and Federal Projects honors District Title I/State Compensatory Education, English Learner Advisory Committee representatives, and departing school principals. Guest speaker Dr. Mary Montle Bacon on “We Need to BE the Change We Want.”

644-6202

Free Writing, Cashiering &

Computer Literacy Class

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

AJOB Adult School

1911 Addison St.

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700.

www.ajob.org

LGBT Catholics Group

7:30 p.m.

Newman Hall

2700 Dwight Way (at College)

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender Catholics group are “a spiritual community committed to creating justice.” This session will be a community meeting.

654-5486

Skin Cancer Screening Clinic

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center

Summit Campus

2450 Ashby Ave.

Markstein Cancer Education Center

Skin cancer screenings are offered only to people who, due to limited or no health insurance, would be able to have a suspicious mole or other skin changes examined. Appointments are required.

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522

Backpacking Essentials

7 p.m.

REI

1338 San Pablo Ave.

Review the fundamental how-tos of selecting gear for a weekend backpacking trip. Free

527-4140

City Commons Club,

Luncheon and Speaker

11:45 a.m.

Berkeley City Club

2315 Durant Ave.

This week featuring Doris Sloan, on “Treasures Along the Silk Road Oases.” Come early for social hour. Lunch at 11:45 for $11-$12.25. Come at 12:30 to hear the speaker only for $1, students free. Reservations required for three or more. 848-3533

Women In Black Protests

5 - 6:30 p.m.

Montgomery and Market Streets

San Francisco

Part of a worldwide protest taking place in 103 cities, Bay Area women and men in black will protest 34 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Sponsored in part by Berkeley Women In Black and the Middle East Children’s Alliance. 434-1304

Saturday, June 9

Live Oak Park Fair

11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Celebrates original crafts, international diversity, and community life. One hundred artists and craftsmakers display their work, with live performances and a variety of food. Free admission.

Call 986-9337

— compiled by

Sabrina Forkish

The Bite of REI 2001

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

REI

1338 San Pablo Ave.

Taste some of the best, lightweight backpacking food and energy snacks available. At 1 p.m. Rick Greenspan and Hal Kahn with demonstrate how to turn your outdoor trips into gourmet adventures. Free

527-4140

La Pena 26th Anniversary

Benefit to Honor Dolores

Huerta

7 p.m.

La Pena Cultural Center

3105 Shattuck Ave.

Music performances, slide show and raffle in honor of special guest Dolores Huerta, farm worker’s and women’s rights advocate. Huerta worked with Cesar Chavez to establish and lead the National Farm Workers Association in the 1960’s, and has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of farm workers for decades. Proceeds will go to La Pena and Huerta’s medical expenses. $20 - $25.

Our forefathers (and mothers) dumped tea in the Boston harbor to express their displeasure at “Taxation Without Representation.”

Berkeley’s City Council gives us “Taxation With Misrepresentation,” an even greater scandal. Any ideas about what we should dump and where to express our displeasure at the sewer tax flowing to the Engineering and Housing departments, gushing to the Corporation Yard and trickling to the First Source?

Rosemary Vimont

Berkeley

Safeway-size structure best elsewhere

Editor:

As neighbors of 1301 Oxford Street, we implore the council to reject the current plan for the Beth El development.

If you walk or drive around this property, you will notice an overwhelming number of signs in front of homes stating: “Save Live Oak greenbelt/Save Codornices Creek/Save our neighborhood/Redesign Beth El.”

I would say about 90 percent of the neighbors surrounding the proposed site have these signs displayed. We really wish the neighbors and concerned members of various environmental groups would be heard on this issue regarding a plan laden with many problems.

There is no protection for our (and I mean belonging to all of us in Berkeley) Codornices Creek. We know the mayor is working with UC Berkeley to restore and daylight the creeks. How can we permit a driveway and parking lot if not on top of the creek, but right next to it. Either way, this will destroy forever any chance of daylighting it.

Live Oak neighborhood has some of Berkeley’s most beautiful and historic homes. It also has the Live Oak Greenbelt running from Shattuck Avenue three blocks up to Spruce Street. The beauty of this greenbelt is the creek and the open natural setting of park like land that has not been built up. Beth El plans to destroy the beauty of this property with a huge Safeway size building, which intends not only to function as a Synagogue, but for social events beyond the normal use for religious services.

We realize that Beth El does good deeds in the community. Well, please be advised, that many of the neighbors against this project, also donate their time and money to many good causes. We are also good people. It’s important to remember that just because you are a good organization, it doesn’t justify a plan that doesn’t fit into the neighborhood. It doesn’t justify destroying the earth. We are also very upset that Beth El has only paid lip-service at the most to the neighbors’ numerous concerns and has not worked with us at all. We would hate to think that Beth El’s leaders didn’t heed our concerns because they knew they had the political influence with the City Council and the City of Berkeley. We have already seen extreme bias on the part of city staff (whose salaries we pay) in the way they handle themselves at meetings and seem to be pushing this plan through. We have seen the ZAB lawyer and staff give thumbs-up to Beth El leaders and they are on a first name basis with the Beth El leaders. The only city commission which really looked at this project objectively is the Landmarks who rejected it due to the overwhelming size of the project, which would destroy the historical setting as it has existed for the past 150 plus years.

Also, the City Council voted to have a mediator appointed by our City Manager and yet before any mediation has taken place there is going to be an open hearing? Shouldn’t the open hearing be held after both parties have had time to go through the mediation process?

The neighborhood has appealed the current Beth El plan and has been joined by many environmental organizations that we’re sure of whom you have the greatest respect.

We urge the council to reject the current Beth El plan and have it dramatically down-sized as previous City Councils did when the Chinese Church owned the property. If Beth El needs a larger site to accommodate its 600 plus families for their expanding activities, maybe they should find a different property closer to a commercial area, and enable the city, along with environmental organizations to open Codornices Creek, and preserve this beautiful site for future generations.

Jim Cassell and Valerie Bach

Berkeley

Save the open space on Oxford Street

Editor:

Please give the good people of Congregation Beth El city hall or anything else they want but save what little bit of open space we have left in Berkeley. Take the idea from the East Bay Regional Park District to buy up and preserve for future generations what natural resources there are.

Catherine Willis

Berkele

County school board should support its superintendent

The Daily Planet received this letter addressed to the Alameda County Board of Education:

We write and speak as elected educational officials with a commitment to continued Alameda County Office of Education services and support. It is time to come together around a budget that reflects the wishes of the County Superintendent. We believe the continuing internecine battles over Ms. Jordan’s budget will cause irreparable harm to our school districts and the students of Alameda County. The fact that the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Delaine Eastin, threatened to withhold state funding for the County of Alameda Office of Education points out your neglect in carrying out your obligations to the voters, residents, and students of Alameda County, and tarnishes your roles as public servants and elected officials.

Sheila Jordan was elected by the voters of Alameda County to bring fresh ideas and educational policies to the County Office of the Superintendent. In this capacity she has become more visible in our many communities, has improved services to our school districts, and has focused the resources of the office of the superintendent on improvement of educational services for the children in our respective districts.

Ms. Jordan’s budget reflects the direction that the Alameda County Office of Education will go under her leadership, as endorsed and supported by the voters of Alameda County.

By the continued attacks on Ms. Jordan and the threats of a vote of no-confidence by the County Board of Education, the County Board appears to be more involved with petty infighting than with the real concerns of the students of our county. It is time for the County Board to act as responsible public officials and support the efforts of the Superintendent to provide a budget that reflects the direction and emphasis to improve the functioning of the County Office of Education and its support of local school districts in the county. Anything less than a reasoned and quick agreement is unconscionable; the County Board’s present course risks voter disillusionment and state sanctions, as well as damage to county educational services. We urge your leadership and efforts for the good of all the students of Alameda County.

Judah L. Magnes Museum “Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season” through May 2002. An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. 2911 Russell St. 549-6950

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 by 40-foot replica of the fearsome dinosaur made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. When unearthed in Montana, the bones were all lying in place with only a small piece of the tailbone missing. “Pteranodon” A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22-23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. Free. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821

“Big Love” by Charles L. Mee Through June 10 Directed by Les Waters and loosely based on the Greek Drama, “The Suppliant Woman,” by Aeschylus. Fifty brides who are being forced to marry fifty brothers flee to a peaceful villa on the Italian coast in search of sanctuary. $15.99 - $51 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2025 Addison St. 647-2949

“The Laramie Project” Through July 8, Wed. 7 p.m., Tues. and Thur. -Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Written by Moises Kaufmen and members of Tectonic Theater Project, directed by Moises Kaufman. Moises Kaufman and Tectonic members traveled to Laramie, Wyo., after the murder of openly gay student Matthew Shepherd. The play is about the community and the impact Shaper’s death had on its members. $10 - $50. The Roda Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org

“A Life In the Theatre” Previews June 8, 9, 10, 13. Opens June 14, runs through July 15. Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. David Mamet play about the lives of two actors, considered a metaphor for life itself. Directed by Nancy Carlin. $30-$35. $26 preview nights. Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant 843-4822

Pacific Film Archive June 5, 7:30: From the East; June 6, 7:30: Prank and Parody; June 7, 7:00: Viy; June 8, 7:30: Aerograd; June 8, 9:15: The Letter That Was Never Sent; June 9, 7:30: Comic and Avant-Garde Shorts; June 10, 5:30: Pitfall, 7:25: Woman In the Dunes. Pacific Film Archive Theater 2575 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch) 642-1412

Bernard Maisner: Illuminated Manuscripts and Paintings Through Aug. 8 Maisner works in miniature as well as in large scales, combining his mastery of medieval illumination, gold leafing, and modern painting techniques. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 2400 Ridge Rd. 849-2541

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tours All tours begin at 10 a.m. and are restricted to 30 people per tour $5 - $10 per tour. June 2: Trish Hawthorne will lead a tour of Thousand Oaks School and Neighborhood; June 23: Sue Fernstrom will lead a tour of Strawberry Creek and West of the UC Berkeley campus 848-0181

Public power advocates spoke out Thursday evening at a forum hosted by Assemblymember Dion Aroner, D-Berkeley.

“Many people would tell you that we’re not having an energy crisis, but a financial crisis,” Aroner told the 40 people gathered in the City Council chambers.

Referring to the massive payments going from Pacific Gas & Electric to Texas-based power generators to purchase energy, she quipped: “There’s been a transfer of funds from California to Texas.”

The solution? Public ownership of power.

But not municipalization.

Aroner is calling for a Public Utilities Commission study on the possibility of an East Bay Municipal Utility District takeover of PG&E’s power-generating facilities on the Mokelumne River in the Sierra’s. She is backing Sen. Don Perata’s SB1008 which would require the study.

Panelists appeared to agree. Public take over of private power distribution may not be as complex as it may seem. One does not have to start at zero.

“EBMUD’s authority (already) includes the possible sale of electricity,” said Doug Linney, a director on the water board, who represents Alameda, San Leandro and parts of Oakland.

In fact, the approximately 80-year-old water district is already generating some of its own electricity needs at its Pardee and Commache facilities. It generates about $3-4 million of the $8 million in electricity it uses annually, said EBMUD spokesperson Charles Hardy, in a phone interview Friday.

Panelist Cynthia Wooten, a citizen advocate for public power, also called for the water district to take over some of the generation and distribution of electric power.

“The truth is, PG&E has betrayed us,” she said, noting that the publicly-owned utility already has a trained and unionized labor force, as well as bonding capacity.

The water district also asserts that it can do better than PG&E. “EBMUD can provide more power at a lower price than private operators, while reducing demand in its own water and wastewater operations,” says an EBMUD brochure. “Because it does not have to share money earned from power generation with stockholders, EBMUD can pass the savings on to California alacrity consumers.”

A resolution from the California Municipal Utilities Association is even stronger. It says, in part: “Publicly owned electric utilities are not operated on a profit basis. Their role has always been to provide reasonably-priced electricity and services valued by the communities they serve.”

St. Mary’s coach Andy Shimabukuro said that his team’s 28-0 thrashing of St. Elizabeth’s Friday afternoon in Berkeley was a warm-up game for next week’s pivotal contest against Piedmont.

Piedmont currently leads the Bay Shore Athletic League and with Friday’s win, St. Mary’s remains in second place (8-2 BSAL, 14-9 overall). The winner of next week’s matchup gets a first-round bye in the playoffs.

“We took out all our starters in the second inning,” Shimabukuro said. “This was a practice for us, but we want to maintain our momentum going into next week and into the playoffs.”

St. Mary’s momentum has carried them to wins in 12 of the team’s last 14 games, after the Panthers started the season winning just two out of its first nine.

Friday’s game was called in the fifth inning, but still took nearly two hours and 45 minutes to complete. The St. Mary’s side of the first alone took nearly an hour to play.

Panthers catcher Marcus Johnson led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple to right-center. It took just one more hit, a single by Jeremiah Fielder, to start the St. Mary’s scoring spree.

St. Mary’s started the game with five straight hits and scored 17 runs in the first inning, led by Joe Starkey’s two-run double and Omar Young’s three-run double.

The Panthers left the bases loaded at the end of one, but not before recording four straight two-out singles by Johnson, Brendan Hartoy, Mike Glasshoff and Dave Lawrence. St. Mary’s sent 23 batters to the plate in the first inning outburst.

“I hope we can keep playing like this,” said Johnson, who went 4-for-6 and drove in two runs.

Tom Carman threw three innings of one-hit ball for the Panthers. He struck out six and walked just one. Offensively, Carman drew two walks and drove in two runs in the third inning with a double.

Steve Drapeau relieved Carman in the fourth and allowed no hits and one walk while striking out three Mustangs.

After the monster first inning, St. Mary’s added another four runs in the second and seven in the third. St. Elizabeth’s retired the Panthers in order in the fourth inning when Eddie Russaw replaced Larry Allen on the mound.

St. Mary’s drubbed St. Elizabeth’s earlier this season 13-3, which until Friday’s game was the Panthers’ highest run total this season, Johnson said.

After starting the season poorly, the Panthers caught fire when basketball season ended and two-sport athletes Fielder and Chase Moore returned to the diamond.

“We’ve been playing well as a team since the seniors came back from basketball,” Johnson said. “This was a little workout for Piedmont next week.”

After months of controversy, the City Council will hold the first of two public hearings tonight on a synagogue and school proposed for 1301 Oxford St.

The 32,000-square-foot project, proposed by the Beth El Congregation, has pitted the congregation against a group of neighbors, organized as the Live Oak Codornices Creek Neighborhood Association, who have vigorously opposed the design and size of the synagogue.

Tonight’s hearing is part of an appeal by LOCCNA of the Zoning Adjustments Board approval of the project.

A public hearing on a separate appeal, filed by Beth El member Harry Pollock on behalf of the congregation, will be held June 26. This is an appeal of a decision by the Landmarks Preservation Commission to deny an alteration permit for the project. The LPC’s denial prohibits Beth El from altering the property, which includes disallowing the congregation the right to raze existing structures on the property. The site is the location of the Byrne Mansion that burned down in 1985. Despite the loss of the building the site itself is still a designated city landmark, which LOCCNA argues would be significantly altered by the development.

According to a report from the city manager, both appeals are scheduled to be resolved by the council no later than July 24, the last meeting before the council’s summer break.

An indication of how controversial the proposed project has been might be the size of the appeal report which cost the city $3,888 for 35 copies of the 2,600 pages of individual correspondence, exhibits and staff reports. The unwieldy document, the largest anyone in the City Clerk’s Office can remember seeing, inspired one city employee to call it “The Ugly Thing.”

LOCCNA appeals ZAB decision

Sharon Duggan, an attorney representing LOCCNA and 10 other environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, the Urban Creeks Council, the Golden Gate Audubon Society and the International Rivers Network, filed the appeal to the City Council, challenging the Zoning Adjustments Board’s March 8 approval of a use permit for the project.

The appeal claims the project, as it’s designed, will preclude a culverted section of Codornices Creek from ever being daylighted, that events at the synagogue will cause traffic and parking problems and that the main structure is out of proportion to the rest of the neighborhood.

“To me the creek is the most important issue,” said LOCCNA member Alan Gould. “And the creek is being negatively impacted by the project’s size.”

Beth El will protect the property

Pollock argues the project has been changed significantly since the beginning of the application process and that the congregation will landscape a property that has been neglected. He said the congregation would be respectful of the historic nature of the site.

“This has been a lengthy process and the end result is a better project than we started with,” Pollock said. “The project that’s coming to council is one they can be proud of approving.”

Beth El Congregation purchased the Oxford Street property because it outgrew its present site at 2301 Vine St. “We are doubled up in classrooms and meeting rooms,” Pollock said. “This will give us a chance to move into a more appropriate site in, frankly, a more beautiful location.”

In May, the council requested the opposing sides meet with a mediator and attempt to find a compromise. Both sides agreed and there have been two meetings in recent weeks with a third scheduled for Wednesday. The meetings are confidential and neither side will comment on whether they’ve been fruitful.

No decision will be made at tonight’s meeting.

The hearing will take place in the City Council Chambers at 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way at 7 p.m. They will be broadcast on KPFB 89.3 FM and B-TV, ch-25.

In anticipation of a major earthquake that could isolate Berkeley for up to seven days, the City Council and the Board of Education are holding a joint meeting Tuesday to discuss a preparedness plan.

A Disaster Council report estimates the city’s needs in the aftermath of a 7.0 earthquake. According to the report, an earthquake that size could render 25 percent of Berkeley residences uninhabitable leaving as many as 20,000 people without shelter.

The Disaster Council calls for a partnership between the School Board and the city to prepare schools and neighborhoods for a major earthquake, an event most experts say could happen at any time.

The council’s report says that the American Red Cross is woefully unprepared for a major quake. The ARC only has 10,000 cots in storage for

the entire Bay Area, less than

4 percent of the estimated 275,000 that will be needed.

“The City of Berkeley is responsible for the care and shelter of its citizens following an earthquake or other disaster. We are obligated to prepare for that eventuality,” says the Disaster Council report.

Associate Analyst of the Office of Emergency Services, Dory Ehrlich, said if there is a major quake on the Hayward fault, which runs through the UC Berkeley campus, the city will need enough tents, cots and blankets to shelter those who have lost their homes.

The Disaster Council estimates the cost of properly preparing the city at $1.3 million. The funds have not been identified yet, but Ehrlich said the Disaster Council is hoping the city’s general fund would allocate the necessary funding for the various preparedness programs.

The report recommends the city and School Board focus on three areas of readiness: preparing schools, stockpiling emergency supplies and citizen emergency training.

The report suggests Berkeley stockpile emergency supplies in 20-foot-long metal storage containers. The containers would be filled with food, water, first-aid equipment as well as search and rescue supplies. The report recommends stashing the containers in schools.

The schools have been seismically retrofitted and are expected to withstand a large earthquake. This makes them good candidates for emergency centers after an earthquake.

Children are an especially vulnerable population in the event of a disaster and, according to the report, the city’s schools are not fully prepared. Emergency services are likely to be overwhelmed and the report suggests schools be prepared to care for students for up to seven days without outside help.

The schools will face three tasks after a severe earthquake: sheltering and caring for children, rescue and emergency first aid, and switching to use as public shelter facilities.

In order to accomplish these tasks, school employees will have to be trained and have access to emergency supplies. To date school employees have received very little training and only some schools have modest amounts of supplies, according to the report.

The report suggests an increase in the Community Emergency Response Training budget of $3,750 to expand the CERT training program to Berkeley High School. The extra funding will cover the publication of 750 CERT training manuals and extra Office of Emergency Services training and support staff.

The report warns that neighborhoods could be on their own after a major earthquake and neighborhoods should also be prepared for self sufficiency for up to seven days.

It’s recommended the city step up its current citizen training. According to the report, 700 citizens have attended emergency training courses since August 1999. It is suggested the city continue to reach out to community groups such as Neighborhood Watch organizations and other groups to make them aware of the importance of being prepared.

To accomplish these things the Emergency Council recommends the city hire a full-time emergency planner, a neighborhood coordinator, an emergency response trainer and office support staff.

“The question is not whether we will suffer such an event, but when,” the report reads. “We are well on our way to being a prepared community. But now is not the time to falter, there is still much work to be done.”

The joint City Council and Board of Education meeting will be convened on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way.

“Stand up if you think students have the power to make this school a better place,” Berkeley High senior Maryan Katouli sang out over the PA system.

Of the hundred or so students gathered in the school’s Little Theater for a three period presentation/discussion on school reform, slightly more than a dozen battled up from their chairs. A few more made it about half way up before they were defeated by the earth’s cruel gravitational pull.

Most of the 50 or so African Americans in the room stayed firmly in their seats throughout.

It wasn’t exactly a ringing affirmation for the idea of student-led education reform, but Katuoli and her companions up by the stage stood their ground.

“You should all be standing,” admonished Berkeley High junior Nicole Heyman. “If we let adults make the changes, then they’re going to make the changes that suit themselves.”

In a forum organized “by the students for the students,” Katouli, Heyman and several Berkeley High upper classmen explained the academic achievement gap in excruciating detail before offering their observations and recommendations for making Berkeley High a better school.

To begin, one student did a Powerpoint presentation on the achievement gap. As statistic after statistic flashed across the screen, the increasing outrage in the audience electrified the air in the small auditorium.

“It that makes you upset, then get involved in changing this school,” Heyman exhorted her classmates.

But it wasn’t all outrage at the existence of an achievement gap so much as outrage at that these student leaders who would dare to “explain” the gap, when no one can attend Berkeley High and not know it is a place where many black and Latino students are not “performing” the way their teachers would like them to. (Last year 50 percent of Berkeley High’s African American students had a GPA of 2.0 or less, according to the students’ presentation.)

To hammer away at the point was obviously offensive for many in the audience.

“We know what (the achievement gap) is,” shouted one.

“What’s you’re point,” called out another, as the hissing and catcalls continued to mount.

The tension decreased as the day went on and different classes revolved in and out of the audience. Having finished their presentation, the student leaders began to engage the audience in a broader discussion about Berkeley High’s problems, soliciting solutions along the way.

One African American girl complained that many minority students feel like the teachers focus on the white students and are dismissive of the minority students. When there is a substitute teacher of color in these classes, students of color all of a sudden begin to talk more than ever before, she said.

Minority students end up thinking to themselves, “I’m not going to come to class if this teacher isn’t going to listen to me,” the girl said.

Matt Chavez, one of the students leading the forum, said the school desperately needs more minority teachers “so students can see, you know, that we can be teachers and we can be professionals.”

Chavez also recommended that teachers meet regularly with the parents of every student to keep them up to date on what their children need to do to get into college. To often, said Chavez, there is an institutionalized expectation that white and Asian students will go to college but African Americans and Latinos will not.

At the end of the day, students who organized the forum said they hoped it would spark a debate and encourage students to become involved in discussions of school reform at Berkeley High.

“We’re at a point where we can either go downhill or go uphill,” Katouli said. “It’s up to students right now to realize what we want our school to be.”

Currently, an advisory committee made up of parents, teachers and some students is considering a reform plan that would divide Berkeley High into “small learning communities.” In small schools of about 500 students apiece, the argument goes, students could get more of the individualized attention they so clearly need. This is turn would help combat truancy, campus violence and the achievement gap, small learning community supporters say.

Berkeley High teacher Tammy Harkins, who teachers a class on The Literature of Education Reform, said she has seen more student interest in school reform this year than at any time in here 11 years at the school.

The time has come to recognize that schools are serving a different purpose today than before, and to reform educational programs to reflect this fact, Harkins said. It’s no longer enough serve up the traditional curriculum and expect kids to take it from there, Harkins said.

“It’s almost as if the family has been shifted here,” Harkins said of Berkeley High. “Kids come here to be normalized, to have a relationship with adults.”

Many students Monday said they like the idea of small learning communities, but had questions about just exactly how it would be implemented at Berkeley High. And they said the wanted to have a chance to critique any plans before they are implemented.

Prominently perched on a steep hillside overlooking Spruce Street in north Berkeley, the Dempster House is an intriguing and distinctive mixture of Berkeley brown shingle and remnants of the Victorian era.

A polygonal tower with a steep “witches cap” roof over the entrance is a legacy of the 1880s and 1890s.

The house, however, is a simple rectangular shape with an open-gable roof with deep sheltering eaves.

The large entrance porch repeats the shape of the tower and is sheltered by a polygonal- shaped roof supported by square posts and exposed beams and brackets. The house gives the appearance of being wrapped in porches.

The Dempster House was designed by its owner, Roy R. Dempster, and constructed by the firm of Kidder and McCullough in 1908.

The Dempsters had lost their house on Lake Merritt in the 1906 earthquake, so the house was designed to withstand earthquakes.

Large structural beams were used and the house was bolted to the foundation. There is even a fire hose and hook-up on each floor.

Roy Dempster graduated from the University of California in 1895 and had studied physics and philosophy. He managed the family’s interests in real estate, lumber and shipping.

Descendants of Roy Dempster still live in the house and much of the furniture is original.

Photos displayed throughout the house show older generations of Dempster family members sitting on chairs still used in the living room today.

This house, and several other early 20th century homes designed by Bernard Maybeck, Julia Morgan, and others, will be open on Sunday, May 6 for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage’s annual house tour. Call 841-2242 for information.

Known for her straight talk, determination and generous spirit, Barbara Ann Hicks Moscowitz died of natural causes at her Berkeley home May 24.

Co-founder of Moe’s Books on Telegraph Avenue and founder of the Waldon School in Berkeley, Mrs. Moscowitz was 78 years old at the time of her death.

“She was tough,” said Gene Barone, manager of Moe’s Books. “She was her own person.”

Mrs. Moscowitz’s political activism in the realm of civil rights, rights for Central American refugees and women’s rights, stands out to those who knew her. “She was left wing, counter culture,” Barone said. “She had refugees at her home and gave them financial assistance.”

Her political activism tied her to the group of people who created Pacifica Radio in 1949. The vision of these pacifists did not stop at founding a radio station. “The original idea of the Pacifica Foundation was to have a school,” said Marie Switkes, who works at Waldon School, the arts-focused school Mrs. Moscowitz founded in 1958.

Less than one week before she died, Mrs. Moskowitz attended an event with jazz singers and arts and crafts sale at the school. “She came in a wheelchair and sat in the sun,” Switkes said.

At age 4 Stephanie Huff’s parents were told she could possibly live until 11.

After a valiant struggle with cystic fibrosis, Stephanie died at Stanford Hospital on March 25 at the age of 39. She had a remarkable resilience, discipline and persistence in dealing with the challenges of accessing medical care for her condition and patients’ rights in general.

Motivation and enthusiasm for life kept her alive all these years, well beyond expectations.

She was a member of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists where she sought a spiritual home. In 1999 she asked the Social Action Committee of the Fellowship for help in getting on the list at Stanford for a double lung transplant, having been turned down previously. The Committee brainstormed with Stephanie and petitioned Stanford in every possible way to reconsider but they declined to deal with the Committee. Then Judith Scherr of the Daily Planet wrote an excellent & touching article on Stephanie’s plight. This was followed by other media articles and likely persuaded Stanford to “reconsider,” but it may have been too late

physically and she was turned down for the last time. But Stephanie was much more than her fight against the medical establishment and her “rage against the dying of the light.” (Dylan Thomas) Since her student days at Santa Cruz she had been involved with feminist, peace and justice and disability groups as well as Livermore Action Group and the San Francisco/Lesbian/Gay Chorus. Despite her failing strength, she remained vitally interested in her family, friends and current events. Till the end she drew inspiration from music, art and her devoted family.

She is survived by her mother Carolyn Carpenter of Pt. Richmond, her father and stepmother in Hawaii and her brother and family in Massachusetts.

A Life Celebration will be held Sunday at 5 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall at 1924 Cedar St. The Hall is wheelchair accessible and all are welcome. Stephanie’s favorite Thai and Mexican food will be served after the Memorial Service. Donations can be made in Stephanie’s memory to the Richmond Art Center, 2541 Barrett Ave., Richmond, 94804. For further information call 528-5403.

Obituary submitted by friends of Stephanie Huff at the Berkeley Fellowship.

BERKELEY — The building of the future will be able to keep standing even after a bomb blast knocks out first-floor supports, scientists say.

How far into the future? About two weeks, it turns out.

On Monday, University of California, Berkeley, professor Hassan Astaneh supervised the final test of the new technology, which uses cables embedded in the floors and encircling the building to act as emergency support if a supporting column is destroyed.

The collapse of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which killed 168 people and injured hundreds more, was caused by a bomb that destroyed a single supporting column.

The new technology – the same kind of engineering that keeps suspension bridges up – will be used at the new federal courthouse that is about to be constructed in Seattle. It also is expected to go into a new federal courthouse that will start going up in San Francisco in the next few years.

“This is our confirmation,” said Willie Hirano, a structural engineer with the Government Services Administration in Seattle who observed the test.

The design was originally developed by the structural and civil engineering firm of Skilling Ward Magnusson Barkshire of Seattle.

Scientists at Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory had run a number of tests and simulations. But the test Monday went further, taking the fortified floor to the limit.

First, a critical column supporting the floor, built about three feet off the ground, was taken away, leaving just the cables holding the floor up.

“Five, four, three, two, one!” called out professor Hassan Astaneh as thousands of pounds of pressure were slowly exerted on the floor.

For a few minutes, bolts snapped and steel girders groaned with the ominous sound effects of a disaster movie.

“Eighty thousand pounds on the floor ... 130,000 pounds on the floor,” Astaneh said as the concrete slab sagged with a thunderous rumbling.

“It’s holding – 190,000 pounds, it’s holding,” Astaneh said.

The test stopped at 190,000 pounds because that was how much pressure it took to force the test floor down to the real floor below.

The cables held and when the pressure was reversed the test floor slowly rose about 18 inches.

Better design can’t save people who are next to a bomb when it explodes.

But the cable should save lives by preventing upper floors from collapsing and giving people room to escape, Astaneh said.

Cables could also make repair much simpler, allowing workers to jack up the floor and fix the bolts.

Putting cables into new construction such as the federal courthouse adds about $2 a square foot to the regular cost of $200 a square foot, Astaneh said. They also could be used in retrofitting, probably for about the same cost, he said.

In the 1970s, energy conservation was Jimmy Carter in a cardigan telling people to bundle up and turn down the heat. Today, it’s about using energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs, computerized thermostats and motion sensors.

To many Americans, California’s energy crisis is a problem isolated on the West Coast. Yet it has resurrected interest in conservation that hasn’t been heard since gas lines and the OPEC oil embargo more than two decades ago.

President Bush on Thursday ordered federal agencies to cut power use in California where rolling blackouts have catapulted the debate over future energy supplies to the top of the national agenda.

Bush’s conservation message came just days after Vice President Dick Cheney, who claims the whole nation could face blackouts like those in California unless it finds more oil, natural gas and coal, said America cannot “simply conserve or ration our way out of the situation we’re in.”

Environmentalists maintain the Bush administration is using California’s electricity crisis – largely due to a failed attempt at electricity deregulation – to push through a broader energy plan to drill for oil and natural gas in now off-limits areas of Alaska and the West. Hardly any power plants run on oil, they note.

And energy-conservation groups say if everybody made better use of the energy already being generated, America would not need many of the 1,300-plus power plants that Bush and Cheney say demand will require over the next 20 years.

Nobody will have to sit in the dark, they say, if it were made easier for Americans to use less energy through more fuel efficient light bulbs, motors, automobiles, office buildings and homes.

“In today’s world we are not asking people to not use their (air conditioning) – that is not today’s message of conservation,” said Rozanne Weissman, a spokeswoman for the Alliance to Save Energy, a Washington-based nonprofit group. “What we need to do is look at using our energy more efficiently and using today’s technologies to help do it for us.”

According to the alliance:

• If each household in the United States replaced four regular 100-watt bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, the output of 30 medium-sized power plants (each with a 300-megawatt capacity) would not be needed.

• If the Bush administration’s new efficiency standards for air conditioners and heat pumps improved energy use by 30 percent instead of 20 percent, the output of 138 of these power plants would not been needed during peak use times.

Americans could even unplug idle appliances – TVs, VCRs, cable boxes, CD players and microwaves – when they go out of town. Some of these appliances continue to consume energy when switched off. The power keeps display clocks lighted and memory chips and remote controls working. The alliance says these electric leaks cost consumers more than $3 billion a year.

Conservation does help, according to Alexandra von Meier, director of the Environmental Technology Center at Sonoma State University in California. She told a House energy subcommittee on Thursday that residential and commercial buildings use about 35 percent of the energy – electricity and fuels – in the United States.

“This amount of energy can be cut in half, if not more, by implementing the things we already know about how to make buildings more energy efficient and, at the same time, more comfortable,” she said, explaining how Venetian blinds hung on the outside of the technology center keeps the glass from transferring heat.

Howard Geller, former executive director of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, told the committee about an Energy Department study in November 2000 that said increasing energy efficiency throughout the economy could cut national energy use by at least 10 percent by 2010 and by 20 percent in 2020.

“Even though the United States is much more energy-efficient today than it was 25 years ago, there is still enormous potential for additional cost-effective energy savings,” said Geller.

A conservation group plans to buy more than 30,000 acres in the Sierra Nevada from a timber company and make that land available for public use in the next two to three years.

The first phase of the agreement involves the Trust for Public Land buying 6,100 acres along the North Fork of the American River from Sierra Pacific Industries, a logging company, for about $6 million.

TPL officials said at a news conference Monday they eventually could buy up to 50,000 acres from SPI for preservation.

“We have frequently crossed the Rubicon this year, and in years to come, we’re hoping to buy the Rubicon,” said Alan Front, senior vice president and director of federal affairs for TPL, referring to one of the rivers in the area to be preserved.

SPI, the largest private landowner in California with 1.5 million acres, decided to make the parcels available to the organization after an inventory of its land, said Mark Emmerson, the company’s chief financial officer. He said it would be more economically viable to have the land in the public trust, rather than log it.

“It wasn’t optimal for timber production,” Emmerson said. “We could have sold it for other uses, but we think this land is of greater use visually and recreationally.”

The first 6,100 acres will be managed by the U.S. Forest Service, and future acquisitions that are part of the agreement could be handed over to the federal or state governments, or another nonprofit organization for public use, said David Sutton, director of TPL’s Sierra Nevada Program.

Money for the first acquisition will come partly from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. TPL expects to raise the rest of the money from private donors.

Some environmental organizations commended the agreement, saying it will help protect what they call “critical lands” in the Sierra Nevada.

“We have been working on protecting the North Fork for 40 years,” said Eric Gerstung of the Sierra Club. “This means a great deal for the public and for our membership.”

Jay Watson, regional director for the Wilderness Society, agreed.

“The eventual public ownership of these lands will help provide long-lasting ecological integrity to these river ecosystems, as well as providing highly valuable outdoor recreation to the residents of the Golden State,” he said in a statement.

SACRAMENTO — Attorneys who argued against the state’s vehicle smog fees are unlikely to receive an $88 million fee an arbitration board once awarded them, a judge ruled Friday.

Lawyers for the state called the decision a victory for taxpayers and said they expected the fee to eventually be cut to less than $18 million, adding at least $70 million to the state treasury.

Representatives of the firms originally awarded the large fee by referred comment to their lawyers, who did not return calls seeking comment.

The decision came two weeks after Sacramento Superior Court Judge Joe Gray’s tentative decision that said the three-member arbitration panel that awarded the fee exceeded its authority.

The delay was requested by the attorneys who successfully argued that the state knowingly and unconstitutionally collected a $300 fee on out-of-state car registrations until 1999. The fee was intended to limit the entry of cars from states with less restrictive emissions policies.

The Legislature decided to return the fee plus interest in as many as 1.7 million cases.

Elwood Lui, a Los Angeles attorney who helped the state fight the fee, said he liked the judge’s decision but expected it to be appealed.

In 1998, a superior court judge awarded the firms $18 million when he struck down the smog fee. But Gov. Gray Davis sought to have the fees set through binding, private arbitration, because he thought the panel would drive the fee even lower.

Gray did not specify a fee, so the attorneys may receive the original $18 million.

The case could be settled on appeal, another arbitration panel could be convened or the Legislature could pass a law paying the attorneys a set amount.

The attorneys first asked for $100 million, or about 17 percent of the $665 million earmarked for the smog refunds. Instead, they were given 13.3 percent, or about $8,800 an hour.

Another aspect of the arbitrated fee is to be decided next week. Board of Equalization chairman Dean Andal has sued to stop the award on the basis that the arbitration panel spent tax dollars, a legislative power.

Andal’s attorney, Eric Norby, said the issue would likely be settled in higher courts, but added he was pleased with the judge’s decision Friday.

“At this point $88 million more is going back to the general fund, meaning more money for schools, police, or to pay one day’s power at least” Norby said.

An important part of the judge’s decision was that the five firms – Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP, Weiss & Yourman, Blumenthal Ostroff & Markham, Sullivan Hill Lewin Rez & Engel, and Richard M. Pearl — should not be paid for lobbying the Legislature to order the refunds, Norby said.

The original case, Jordan v. state Department of Motor Vehicles, ended October 1999, six months before the legislation passed.

PASADENA — A new book that translates color images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope into tactile illustrations will allow the blind to touch the stars – as well as galaxies, planets and other astronomical objects captured by the orbiting observatory.

The 87-page book is the first to pair actual images acquired by the 11-year-old Hubble with clear plastic overlays that render each in raised patterns the blind can read. Braille and large-print text descriptions accompany each of the book’s 14 images.

“It allows people of varying visual ability to view the book together,” said Bernhard Beck-Winchatz, an astronomer at Chicago’s DePaul University who created the book with astronomer and author Noreen Grice.

The book begins with a Hubble image of Earth and then moves outward into the universe, showing everything from Jupiter to the Eskimo Nebula. It ends with a widefield view of scores of galaxies billions of light-years away. “We can take people on a journey of discovery, starting at the Earth and to some of the deepest places seen,” Grice said during a press conference at the 198th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

Throughout the book, “Touch the Universe: A NASA Braille Book of Astronomy,” identical features are reproduced in tactile form by using consistent patterns or textures. Rings are illustrated with dotted lines, for instance, and curved ones represent gas currents like those that encircle Jupiter. “They can take this with their fingertips and paint an image inside,” said Benning Wentworth III, a science teacher at the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind, whose students helped develop the book.

Beck-Winchatz said the idea for the book came when he won an outreach grant connected to his Hubble research on galaxies with black holes. He soon contacted Grice, who had already written a book on astronomy for the blind, but that did not include actual photographs.

“I really liked the idea. What I didn’t like was it only used hand sketches, when there is such a wealth of real images out there,” Beck-Winchatz said.

Working in the kitchen of her Connecticut home, Grice traced out each image on aluminum plates. The plates were then used to create the plastic overlays, which match perfectly the underlying color photocopied images.

The entire book was then assembled by hand, all on a shoestring budget covered by the $10,000 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Grice said she expected the book would be prove popular with science classes for the blind.

“This is the only way to touch something that is so distant,” she said.

Only three prototypes exist now, but Grice and Beck-Winchatz hope to print 400 copies for sale beginning later this summer. Each should cost less than $40, or slightly more than it costs to produce.

Although the tactile versions fall short of reproducing the intricate detail of many of the Hubble images, Wentworth said the overlays contain a powerful message for blind students of astronomy.

“That there are objects, they are out there and they are very real and we can start painting them in our minds,” said Wentworth.

LOS ANGELES — Baja California was wrenched from mainland Mexico 6 million years ago by a series of earthquakes, starting in earnest the peninsula’s 160-mile push to the northwest, a study says.

Geologists have long known that movement along the boundary separating the North American and Pacific plates tore Baja California from the rest of Mexico, opening up what is now known as the Gulf of California. But the timing had been a question.

The break separating the peninsula from the mainland is the southern extension of the San Andreas fault system that runs nearly the length of California.

But whether the movement began in a gradual process as many as 12 million years ago, or more abruptly in more recent times, remained unknown.

Michael Oskin, a graduate student in geology at the California Institute of Technology, said he has found and matched identical volcanic rocks on opposite sides of the gulf that allowed him to pinpoint the size, timing and rate of the movement between the two plates. The results are published in the May issue of the journal Geology.

By correlating the different tie-points – now separated by the roughly 160 miles of slip that has taken place along the fault system, but closely joined in the distant past – Oskin said the study he co-authored shows that Baja California started pulling away 12.5 million years ago, but the bulk of the the peninsula’s movement has taken place within the last 6.5 million years.

“We have now concrete evidence that the motion history of the gulf can be very well divided around this 6.5 million-year-old time interval,” Oskin said.

One expert in the geologic history of Baja California said the study further refines the chronology of the peninsula’s evolution.

“This is fairly important in that it’s by far the most accurate matching point across the gulf to date, and it’s certainly the youngest that you can come up with,” said Gary Axen, an assistant professor of geology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Continental rifting probably first opened up what is now the Gulf of California more than 12 million years ago when subduction off the shore of northwest Mexico ground to a halt.

The Gulf opened even farther apart some 6 million to 7 million years after that, when Baja California shifted onto the Pacific plate from the North American plate and the San Andreas fault system plunged farther southward.

If it weren’t for barriers, the Gulf of California would stretch farther north, reaching the depression now occupied by California’s Salton Sea, which is well below sea level. However, the troughlike depression is blocked by the delta of the Colorado River, which has steadily poured sediments into the Gulf of California over millions of years.

LOS ANGELES — Tuesday’s mayoral election is more than just a choice between two popular Democrats in a city that has long been friendly to the politics of both.

Former state Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, an immigrant’s son and former labor organizer, is trying to become the first Hispanic mayor since 1872 in a city that is rapidly moving toward a Hispanic majority.

But he faces strong opposition from City Attorney James Hahn, whose voting bloc is anchored by another powerful, although diminishing, racial group, the city’s black voters.

Los Angeles voters also will elect a new city attorney, five City Council members and a successor to the late 32nd Congressional District Rep. Julian Dixon. One of the City Council candidates is 1960s radical and former state legislator Tom Hayden, who is running against former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Weiss for a seat representing the city’s west side.

Political observers have cast the mayor’s race as a contest pitting Los Angeles’ wave of the future against its status quo.

“I categorize it as Jim Hahn’s experience versus Antonio Villaraigosa’s passion,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, senior scholar at the USC School of Policy, Planning and Development. “It is Jim Hahn who represents the civic establishment of Los Angeles, versus Antonio Villaraigosa, who represents the face of the future of Los Angeles.”

Villaraigosa, 48, is the son of an immigrant father. A self-described street kid who flirted briefly with gang influences on the city’s tough east side, he once got into a brawl in a restaurant over an insult directed at his mother. He would turn his life around, however, returning to school and eventually earning a law degree.

Elected to the state Assembly in 1994, he rose quickly through the ranks to become speaker, long considered the state’s second most powerful position behind governor. There, he built a reputation as a likable political negotiator who quickly built coalitions of varying political persuasions to get things done.

His Assembly career was limited by California’s relatively recent term-limits law that restricted him to six years in office.

Hahn, a four-term city attorney, also was forced to give up that job by Los Angeles’ new term-limits law.

Like Villaraigosa, he jumped into the race to succeed Mayor Richard Riordan, a popular Republican moderate who is leaving office after eight years, also because of term limits.

His late father, Kenneth Hahn, became a political legend as the white man who earned the love of Los Angeles County’s black community during the 40 years he represented it on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

It was said that no pothole went unpaved or public telephone unrepaired in Kenneth Hahn’s district, and the affection that record brought him has translated into rock-solid support for his son in the city’s black neighborhoods.

Both candidates, meanwhile, are liberal Democrats, although Villaraigosa is seen as somewhat to the left of Hahn.

Hahn has sought to use that to his advantage in the candidates’ battle for the moderate to conservative voters that the election is expected to turn on.

He has accused Villaraigosa of being soft on crime during his years in the state Legislature and attacked him in political ads for writing a letter of support, as several other prominent Los Angeles officials did, in support of a convicted cocaine trafficker seeking a presidential pardon.

That has given Hahn, among some observers, status as the candidate of the white status quo. That group, although no longer a majority in Los Angeles, still makes up a substantial portion of its voters.

If Villaraigosa loses, “I think that the broader perception will be that Los Angeles is not yet ready for a Latino mayor,” Jeffe said.

However Tuesday’s race plays out, with Los Angeles’ Hispanic population approaching 50 percent, it could be only a matter of time before the city elects its first Hispanic mayor since Cristobal Aguilar lost his bid for a fourth term in 1872 in what was then becoming a more Anglo-dominated city.

“The old Los Angeles can only hope that when political change comes, it will come in the form of an inclusive and flexible candidate like Villaraigosa,” Los Angeles Times Associate Editor Frank del Olmo said in a commentary in Sunday’s paper. “The alternatives to him are a lot more nationalist about their Latino identity and will be a whole lot tougher to deal with when the time comes.”

SACRAMENTO — A federal attorney is suing the Immigration and Naturalization Service over the case of an illegal immigrant whom the agency has said it might sedate before deporting to China.

A federal public defender filed suit in Sacramento that would prevent Chinese national Bao Hua Dong from “being forcibly drugged” before an INS deportation officer puts her on a plane.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Linda Harter, the assistant public defender who filed the suit.

Harter said in the suit that the INS has threatened to sedate Dong, who is held nearby in a Yuba County jail, before agents again try to deport her. No date has been set for her return to China.

Last November, the INS tried to put Dong, 26, on a United Airlines flight originating in San Francisco. But a gate attendant refused to let her aboard because she was hysterical, according to court documents.

Dong tried to enter the country illegally at San Francisco International Airport in December 1998, using a falsified passport of a 40-year-old Japanese woman.

A lawyer representing the INS said the agency would not sedate Dong without permission from a court.

“Sometimes it is necessary to sedate an alien, but we always obtain a court order first,” Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Glyndell E. Williams told a U.S. District Court judge at a hearing Tuesday. Judge William B. Shubb ruled that he did not have jurisdiction over the matter.

INS officials would not discuss the case in detail. INS spokeswoman Sharon Rummery told the San Jose Mercury News that though she does not know of such a case, “when the person is violent or will hurt themselves or others, then under supervision of a doctor ... it would be necessary.”

SACRAMENTO — California health care plans would have to cover treatment for drug and alcohol abuse under a bill approved Monday by the state Senate.

The measure, by Sen. Wesley Chesbro, D-Arcata, was sent to the Assembly by a 23-14 vote, despite a complaint by one Republican that it would boost health care costs and result in fewer employers paying for coverage.

“If our goal is to make sure that the only health care anybody gets is a government health care program, we are well on the road to accomplishing that,” said Sen. Ray Haynes, R-Temecula.

“The people that this bill will hurt the most are people who need health care coverage the most, those on the lower end of our economic ladder.”

But Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Daly City, said California has the lowest health care premiums in the country and that the Chesbro bill would cost less than $1 per health care plan enrollee per month.

“If we’re ever going to get someone off drugs or alcohol, it is because of the intercession by a health care professional...,” she said.

“It’s worth the expenditure.”

Chesbro said studies show the requirement in his bill would be cost-effective.

MONTEREY — Despite months of seeking solutions to the energy crisis, state officials are still preparing for blackouts this summer, Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg said Friday.

The state Office of Emergency Services will closely watch for any problems, and improved early notification programs are in the works so communities can prepare for when the lights go out, the San Fernando Valley Democrat said.

Most importantly, the crisis is not a time for politics as usual and finger-pointing, he said.

“This is war. This is so critically important,” he told a meeting of the California Society of Newspaper Editors and The Associated Press News Executives Council.

“You can’t screw around with the small stuff. ... We’re trying to be problem-solvers.”

Hertzberg pointed to how the crisis forced the Legislature to look beyond polls and focus groups for solutions.

“We came up with a new paradigm of how we solve problems,” he said.

When the scope of the problem became known in December, lawmakers were ill prepared, he said. Many members had been in office less than two weeks.

The remainder feared repercussions from the deregulation law passed in earlier sessions.

When Gov. Gray Davis called a special session, Hertzberg formed only one committee so that lawmakers could remain focused on finding solutions.

The number of laws introduced also were limited in the first month of the special session. Joint caucuses of Democrats and Republicans worked together, he said.

Hertzberg said lawmakers also sought the “biggest and best” experts, including lawyers and executives familiar with past cases of utility bankruptcies.

“Away from the politics – no focus groups, no polling, none of that garbage – they told us the nature of the problem and how to solve it” he said.

“Our job was to translate that.”

In response to questions, Hertzberg defended the secrecy surrounding negotiations for long-term contracts.

Enough information was disclosed to reassure the investment community, he said, adding that any more details could have affected the bidding process.

Despite efforts to resolve the problem, it’s not clear whether the lights will stay on in California as summer nears, he said.

The end of May and early June will be a critical time because many power stations are being shut down for maintenance and the state’s new long-term contracts have not taken effect.

“I suspect we will have blackouts,” he said. “It’s not going to be good. None of this is good.”

WHAT’S NEXT

• The state Assembly could consider a bill Monday that would authorize $12.5 billion in bonds for power buys. Republican members have balked at financing that much money, suggesting that the state instead use some of its surplus to buy electricity for customers of three cash-strapped utilities.

• Also Monday, a bill that would impose a windfall profits tax on electricity generators will be heard in a Legislative committee.

• The governor meets Wednesday with the CEOs of several major energy suppliers to discuss the money they’re owed by the state’s two largest utilities, the state’s creditworthiness and how wholesalers can help the state during the energy crisis. Davis says he won’t be discussing any of the investigations into price manipulation in the wholesale market.

• Davis’ representatives continue negotiating with Sempra, the parent company of San Diego Gas and Electric Co., to buy the utility’s transmission lines.

The problem:

High demand, high wholesale energy costs, transmission glitches and a tight supply worsened by scarce hydroelectric power in the Northwest and maintenance at aging California power plants are all factors in California’s electricity crisis.

Edison and PG&E say they’ve lost nearly $14 billion since June to high wholesale prices the state’s electricity deregulation law bars them from passing on to consumers. PG&E, saying it hasn’t received the help it needs from regulators or state lawmakers, filed for federal bankruptcy protection April 6.

Electricity and natural gas suppliers, scared off by the two companies’ poor credit ratings, are refusing to sell to them, leading the state in January to start buying power for the utilities’ nearly 9 million residential and business customers. The state is also buying power for a third investor-owned utility, San Diego Gas & Electric, which is in better financial shape than much larger Edison and PG&E but also struggling with high wholesale power costs.

The Public Utilities Commission has raised rates as much as 46 percent to help finance the state’s multibillion-dollar power buys.

LOS ANGELES — Dr. Michael Gottlieb sent the researcher up to 5-East in the UCLA Medical Center.

Scout the wing for interesting immunological cases, Gottlieb told him, and bring back something to discuss.

The researcher did just that, returning with word of a young gay man had a low white blood cell count, strange fungal infections and a rare type of pneumonia normally found only in people with severely suppressed immune systems.

It took just two more patients for Gottlieb to realize something was afoot.

“It was clearly something new and something unique and the mystery was what was causing it.

That was the burning question,” Gottlieb, now a 53-year-old immunologist in private practice, said in a recent interview.

Some sleuthing found two more patients in the San Fernando Valley. Another at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. A Centers for Disease Control officer located a fifth.

A report on the five cases was submitted to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The bare-bones, page-and-half write-up appeared June 5, 1981, overshadowed by reports of dengue fever in American tourists returning from the Caribbean.

Although it wouldn’t be isolated or named for another two years, AIDS had arrived after lurking undetected in infected humans for decades.

Armed with the five Los Angeles cases, the CDC started looking in other cities with sizable populations of gay men.

“Lo and behold, there were lots of cases,” said Gottlieb of the disease he would later be criticized for provisionally dubbing “GRID,” or Gay Related Immunodeficiency Disease.

In the first years, the number stayed small. By the end of 1981, there were fewer than 200 AIDS cases in the United States.

“It appeared to be an outbreak, not an epidemic,” Gottlieb said.

“In 1981, it’s a colossal understatement to say no one would have predicted 20 years later 34 million people around the world would be infected.”

The death toll has been staggering. In the 20 years since Gottlieb and his colleagues tracked those first five cases, nearly 450,000 have died of AIDS in the United States alone.

Worldwide, the number is 22 million.

Gottlieb said his early patients were understanding of science’s ignorance of what was killing them, on average just nine months after suffering from the first opportunistic infections that were the disease’s hallmark.

“They must have felt like astronauts returning to Earth with an extraterrestrial virus and no one knew what to do,” he said.

Today, after two decades of working with AIDS patients, Gottlieb said he is afraid the mainstream population is growing tired of hearing about the disease, for which there is still no cure.

New and powerful drugs, however, are allowing people with AIDS to live longer than ever before.

While not a cure, it has allowed Gottlieb to continue working in the field.

“With AIDS, there was the cumulative burden of having so many of my patients die,” said Gottlieb, who says he has lost hundreds of patients.

HUNTINGTON BEACH — State tax officials have raided the home and office of an Orange County business owner who has refused to withhold taxes from employee paychecks.

The state Franchise Tax Board agents seized financial and employment records, coins and tax-avoidance books from George Jesson’s Huntington Beach electronics business and Fountain Valley home on Wednesday.

According to a search warrant, Jesson is suspected of failing to withhold taxes from paychecks in 1997, 1998 and 1999. Jesson says he stopped withholding taxes only last year.

In media interviews, he has repeatedly said there is no law requiring he withhold taxes from employee paychecks. He also recently said he is refusing to pay his own income taxes.

Jesson and his No Time Delay Electronics are among two dozen businesses nationwide that publicly have defied government requirements that taxes be “paid as you go” through withholding, Social Security and other employment tax programs.

The names of the businesses surfaced in news reports last year. Federal and state tax officials have said they are investigating a small number of the withholding cases.

According to authorities, employers who fail to withhold taxes and turn them over may be required to pay up to double the taxes, plus interest, and can be prosecuted for felony tax evasion.

Jesson has said he wants the case to go to court so he can “expose the corruption of the system.” He said he believes in “lawful taxes,” such as sales, property, export, import, alcohol, tobacco, firearms and utility taxes.

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Seriously ill patients should be able to use marijuana for medical purposes, Nevada lawmakers decided Monday, in a vote that puts the state on a potential collision course with the federal government.

The Assembly vote on the last day of the legislative session also relaxes one of the toughest drug possession laws in the nation, downgrading the charge for possession of small amounts from a felony to a misdemeanor.

The state Assembly concurred in Senate amendments to the medical marijuana-defelonization bill and sent the measure to Gov. Kenny Guinn, who is expected to sign it.

“I think it’s time that Nevada closed the door on antiquated drug policies and reduced possession of an ounce or less to a misdemeanor and focused its efforts on prevention and treatment,” said Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas.

The bill lets seriously ill Nevadans have up to seven marijuana plants for personal use. A state registry would be created for patients whose doctors recommend they use marijuana for medical reasons.

Other amendments allow the state to apply to the federal government for permission to sponsor medical research into whether marijuana helped ease pain, nausea or other symptoms of seriously ill patients.

Also, the state Department of Agriculture could apply to the federal government for a seed lab.

For people other than registered patients, possession of an ounce or less of marijuana would be a misdemeanor carrying a $600 fine, with escalating fines for subsequent offenses. Possession would not become a felony until the fourth offense.

Under current law, regarded as one of the toughest of its kind in the nation, Nevada makes it a felony to possess an ounce or less of marijuana. Violations can lead to prison terms.

In a minor marijuana case, probation is mandatory, but violating probation can lead to prison terms of up to four years.

Nevadans voted overwhelmingly in 1998 and 2000 to amend the Nevada Constitution to authorize use of marijuana by those suffering from cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and other painful and potentially terminal illnesses.

The task of implementing the voters’ mandate was left to the Legislature. The lawmakers took action despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a California case that a federal law classifying the drug as illegal makes no exception for ill patients.

The high court’s action leaves those distributing the drug for that purpose open to prosecution

Besides Nevada, voters in Arizona, Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Oregon and Washington have approved ballot initiatives allowing medical marijuana. In Hawaii, the legislature passed a similar law and the governor signed it last year.

CORCORAN— A federal judge has ruled that the government must pay farmers in the arid Central Valley for depriving them of irrigation water to protect endangered fish.

Growers had argued that by using water they paid for to protect chinook salmon and delta smelt, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service effectively took fields out of production and took money from farmers.

“It was water that was bought and paid for,” said Michael Nordstrom, a lawyer for Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District, which filed the suit.

“The court has ruled they are clearly entitled to do it under the Endangered Species Act, but if they do it they have to pay for it.”

The farmers sued in 1998, claiming the federal government took $25 million of water over a period of three years ending in 1994 by shutting down pumps that divert water south through the valley to Los Angeles from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta.

On Monday, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge John Paul Wiese in Washington, D.C., ruled the farmers are protected under the Fifth Amendment, which prohibits the government from taking private property without paying for it. A hearing to determine what the government owes the farmers has not yet been scheduled.

The ruling could have broad implications for farmers and urban water users in western states, where federal rules protecting wildlife are increasingly in conflict with water allocations.

“For us as a grower it’s big,” said Fred Starrh, a cotton farmer in Kern County. “For the growers across the United States it’s big. If it stands, I think it could bring reasonableness to the process. We’ve just been sitting here getting hammered.”

Interior Department lawyers were studying the opinion and planned to discuss it further next week, but do not believe it has wide implications throughout the West, said spokeswoman Stephanie Hanna.

Starrh pays about $3 million a year to irrigate his 12,000-acre ranch. He pays the total by June for water that may never be delivered.

This year he is idling 3,200 acres because he only expects a third of his contract. He said he will only get a partial refund for the water he doesn’t receive.

The cost of maintaining a certain water level in the delta to protect species could easily amount to tens of millions of dollars a year for water users. In addition to water expenses, there are other factors such as lost production and lost wages – factors that hurt the state’s economy.

“At least now they’ll have to look at what they’re doing and say it’s going to take X number of dollars to take this water,” Starrh said.

California Trout, one of a raft of environmental groups that wrote briefs opposing the farmers, said the problem is that too much river water is allocated for other uses.

“They’re dividing up water to the extent that they believe the water is all there and it’s not,” said Jim Edmondson, the group’s conservation director. “In their vernacular I don’t know how you get 40 pounds of potatoes in a 20-pound sack.”

In the state’s complex water picture, divided into myriad districts by arcane rules and administered by the federal and state contracts, it was not immediately clear what impact the ruling would have on districts that supply households or those that get their water from the federal government.

In many instances, federal water contracts may be outside the scope of the suit because users only pay for what they receive.

“Our contracts are written in a way that allows us to short our contractors under certain circumstances,” said Jeff McCracken, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which supplies 20 percent of the water to irrigation districts and urban users in California and is the largest supplier of water in the West.

Metropolitan Water District, which purchases half the water from the state project for 17 million users in Southern California, was not a plaintiff in the suit and did not expect to benefit from the decision.

Steve Arakawa, manager of water resources, said the Los Angeles agency is trying to work with the state to ensure a reliable water supply while also protecting the environment.

WASHINGTON — Texas jurors who sentenced a retarded killer to death did not get clear instructions about how to weigh the defendant’s mental abilities against the severity of his crime, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The ruling overturned the death sentence of Johnny Paul Penry, whose lawyers claim their client has the mind of a 7-year-old and likes to play with coloring books.

The case, sent back to a federal appeals court, does not answer a larger question about whether execution of the mentally retarded is constitutional. The court has agreed to use a different case to review that question next fall.

The vote was 6-3 on the crucial question of the instructions, although the court was unanimous in ruling that a Texas court properly admitted evidence of Penry’s future dangerousness.

Penry was convicted of murdering Pamela Moseley Carpenter in Texas in 1979. She was the sister of former Washington Redskins place-kicker Mark Moseley.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, writing for the majority, said the instructions to the jury were “constitutionally inadequate” to protect Penry’s rights.

The Texas trial court did not follow previous Supreme Court guidance issued when Penry’s case reached the court before on the jury instruction issue. The earlier ruling by the high court overturned Penry’s death sentence and he was resentenced to die a second time.

The second sentencing left no vehicle for jurors to express the view that Penry should get life, not death, based on mitigating evidence, O’Connor said.

O’Connor wrote that jurors were asked to vote “no” to specific questions if they thought the death penalty was inappropriate – even if their answers to those questions would have been “yes.”

“The jury was essentially instructed to return a false answer in order to avoid a death sentence,” O’Connor wrote.

The Texas Legislature recently passed a bill banning the execution of mentally retarded persons. Gov. Rick Perry hasn’t said whether he will sign it. Texas leads the nation in executions.

State Sen. Rodney Ellis, who sponsored the bill, has said six mentally retarded people have been put to death in Texas since the state resumed executions. State Rep. Juan Hinojosa says seven retarded inmates are on death row.

Justice Clarence Thomas dissented in the court’s decision, joined by two fellow conservatives: Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice Antonin Scalia.

The Supreme Court made headlines last fall when it accepted Penry’s latest appeal, in part because death penalty opponents say juries too often get inadequate instructions and in part because of Penry’s own notoriety.

Penry has been in the forefront of the debate over capital punishment almost from the moment he confessed to killing Carpenter.

After a complicated and highly publicized passage through the Texas courts, the Supreme Court accepted his first appeal and in 1989 used his case to establish two related tenets of capital punishment practice.

The court ruled then that execution of the mentally retarded is constitutional, but juries considering the death penalty must understand how to weigh retardation as a mitigating factor.

Penry’s case returned to the Texas courts, where his lawyers claim the second jury that sentenced him to death got no better instructions than the first.

That is the question the Supreme Court agreed to review in his case, but it soon became a sidelight.

One day before the justices heard arguments in Penry’s case in March, they raised the stakes much higher by agreeing to hear a separate North Carolina case that asks the same question Penry did 12 years ago: Does executing the mentally retarded violate the Eighth Amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment?

If the court reverses itself with that case and declares that the retarded must be spared, the issue of proper death penalty jury instructions would be irrelevant.

At issue for the court this time was whether the Texas jury that imposed Penry’s second death sentence understood its options. Texas authorities claimed the instructions were clear, and that the jury knew it could impose a life sentence instead of death.

Penry’s lawyers claimed the instructions failed the test the Supreme Court set out with its 1989 ruling in what has become known as Penry I.

Texas resentenced Penry in 1990, using the same verdict form as in the first trial. The form asked whether Penry deliberately killed the woman, whether he was provoked and whether he was a continuing threat to society.

SACRAMENTO — The number of California voters shunning political parties has nearly doubled in 10 years, but Democratic and Republican officials say they aren’t worried.

“Election results, that’s where the real loyalty is to Democrats in California,” said Democratic Party spokesman Bob Mulholland. “The Democrats won big in California in 1996, 1998 and 2000. The voters left the Republican altar four years ago and haven’t been seen since.”

Jim Camp, political director for the California Republican Party, said the GOP registered 25,000 new members in March and April and that the presence of President Bush in the White House would bring in more converts.

“That’s one of my biggest goals, bring back the declines-to-state (a party),” Camp said. “With a president like George Bush we will bring them back.”

The secretary of state’s office said Friday that nearly 15.6 million Californians were registered to vote in February, a record for the month and a 20 percent increase since 1991.

Over the same 10-year period, the number of voters refusing to register with a political party jumped from 1.2 million to more than 2.2 million.

Those so-called declines-to-state now make up 14.4 percent of California’s electorate, compared to 9 percent in 1991. The 14.4 percent is a record, said Alfie Charles, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office.

“In California, voters have consistently shown a propensity to base their decisions on individuals rather than political parties,” said Secretary of State Bill Jones, California’s top elections official.

“These latest registration numbers help demonstrate that trend.”

Democrats’ share of the electorate dropped from 49.5 percent in 1991 to 45.6 percent this year. Republican registration dipped from 39.3 percent to 34.8 percent in that period.

At the same time, minor parties jumped from 2.2 percent to 4.4 percent of voters.

Democrats had their highest share of the California electorate in 1942, when they had 60.2 percent of registered voters, Charles said.

The highest Republican percentage — 67.9 percent — was in 1926.

The state’s 15.6 million registered voters make up 72.19 percent of the adults who could vote if registered. The record is 96.2 percent in 1940.

There are 1.7 million more Democrats in California than Republicans, but Republicans outnumber Democrats in 32 of the state’s 58 counties.

The biggest Democratic counties are Alameda, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Sutter, Orange and Placer counties have the highest percentage of Republicans.

WASHINGTON — Arizona and seven other Western states outperformed the rest of the country in economic growth during much of the 1990s while Hawaii and Alaska suffered the worst growth rates, the Commerce Department said Monday.

Arizona led all other states during the 1992-99 period, turning in an average growth rate of 7.3 percent. Neighboring Nevada was not far behind with average growth of 7.0 percent, according to a new report on economic activity during what has become the country’s longest economic expansion.

During the 1992-99 period, the national economy was growing at average annual rates of 4 percent.

In addition to Arizona and Nevada, states that did significantly better than the 4 percent national average were Oregon, with an economy averaging growth of 6.8 percent, followed by Colorado, 6.6 percent; Idaho, 6.6 percent; New Hampshire, 6.3 percent; Utah, 6.3 percent; New Mexico, 6.2 percent; Georgia, 5.8 percent; Texas, 5.4 percent; and North Carolina, 5.1 percent.

Most of the states enjoying high growth rates were seeing big gains in the manufacture and sale of computers and related products such as software programs.

But at the other end of the scale, Hawaii turned in the worst economic performance during this period, with its economy actually shrinking on average by 0.3 percent. Government analysts said that the state had trouble emerging from the last recession, in 1990-91, and then was hard hit by the 1997-98 Asian currency crisis, which cut into the state’s tourism business.

Alaska was next to last in the growth category with an average increase of just 0.5 percent during the eight-year period. Other states with weak performances were West Virginia, 2.4 percent average; Wyoming, 2.5 percent; North Dakota, 2.5 percent; Maine, 2.6 percent; Montana, 2.7 percent; Pennsylvania, 2.8 percent; New Jersey, 2.9 percent; Vermont, 3.0 percent; Maryland, 3.0 percent; and Rhode Island, 3.0 percent.

In the 12 states with the weakest growth rates, gains in high-tech industries were offset by significant weakness in old-line manufacturing industries such as apparel and textiles and lumber and wood products.

California, with the biggest economy, averaged growth of 3.9 percent during the eight-year period, just under the national average but far below many of its fast-growing Western neighbors. Its economy was slow to emerge from the 1990-91 recession, reflecting in part big cutbacks in federal spending on defense, which hit California particularly hard.

He remains a suspect in the Xiana case, authorities say, but no charges have been filed. Police say they need credible information to link Anderson to that case.

“A lot depends on evidence. It’s not necessary to have the body. It’s not essential,” said Vallejo Police Lt. JoAnn West. “It just depends on the information.”

Anderson’s defense attorney, Carl Spieckerman, said he had no indication his client would make the statements about other abductions, and that doing so would endanger him in prison where pedophiles are treated harshly.

“It seems like he’s got a death wish,” Spieckerman said.

Anderson admitted he’s worried about his 250 year jail sentence, adding that if he’s not protected in prison, he’ll be murdered.

It was the third straight gain for all three indexes, but analysts weren’t impressed. The advances amounted to less than 1 percent on each indicator and volume was light. The New York Stock Exchange recorded its second slowest trading session of the year, while the Nasdaq Stock Market broke its low-volume record for 2001.

“Overall, what you’re seeing here is a rally in a few high-priced Dow stocks, but not any kind of a broader, more powerful move on the larger market,” said Richard Dickson, technical analyst at Hilliard Lyons. “I think investors are still confused about the earnings outlook and what’s going on with technology. There are not a lot of compelling reasons to buy, but there are a lot of reasons to be cautious.”

That reluctance spilled over to the technology sector, making for a mixed session. IBM rose 75 cents to $113.64, while Intel fell 24 cents to $28.50 on worries the chip maker will issue an earnings warning at a mid-quarter update scheduled for later this week.

Investors have been skittish in recent weeks on concerns that a widely anticipated fourth-quarter recovery for corporate profits might not happen. The market rallied strongly in April and early May on that hope, but a mix of conflicting economic data and earnings warnings since then have unnerved investors.

Adding to those worries are the second-quarter earnings due out in a few weeks. Those results are expected to be disappointing, but the murky economy outlook has intensified worries that more companies than expected will have weak returns. The tech sector is considered especially vulnerable.

“It’s the calm before the storm of second-quarter earnings and people are battening down the hatches,” said Tom Galvin, chief investment officer at Credit Suisse First Boston. “People aren’t expecting much in the way of good news, so that’s keeping buyers on the sidelines.”

Wall Street appeared unsure of how to react to a statement by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that he was encouraged by signs that U.S. gasoline prices might decline, but that the Fed is keeping a close watch for signs of potential inflationary pressures.

Concerns about inflation could prompt the Fed to be less aggressive in cutting interest rates; although the agency has cut rates five times already this year, investors are counting on more reductions to stimulate the economy. The Fed’s next meeting starts June 26.

Advancing issues led decliners nearly 2 to 1 on the NYSE. Volume came to 835.38 million shares, slightly ahead of the previous low-volume record of nearly 826.06 million set May 25. Consolidated volume came to 1.00 billion, compared with 1.18 billion shares Friday.

The Nasdaq Stock Market volume was just under 1.32 billion shares, less than the 1.34 billion shares traded May 14.

LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors filed a potential death penalty murder case Friday against a man who allegedly shot a man and tried to get away by hijacking a bus that sped through downtown until a violent collision that killed a minivan driver.

Carlos Ray Garcia, 40, of Reseda was charged with capital murder, attempted murder, carjacking, six counts of kidnapping for carjacking, robbery, attempted carjacking and evasion of an officer resulting in death.

Acting Head Deputy District Attorney Patrick M. Dixon also alleged a special circumstance of murder during a carjacking, kidnapping and robbery.

The complaint also alleged that Garcia used a handgun to commit the crimes.

Garcia was held ld without bail because it is a potential capital case, but the district attorney’s office said the decision on whether to seek the death penalty would not be made until after the preliminary hearing.

The counts filed against Garcia did not include a hate crime.

Police said the shooting that led to the bus chase apparently was motivated by hate because Garcia allegedly told victim Anthony Lewis, 35, that he did not like black men associating with Hispanic women.

Lewis remained in critical condition Friday.

Lewis was shot Wednesday afternoon in the Rampart area near the offices of the city police union.

Police quickly gave chase as Garcia allegedly jumped aboard the Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus and forced the driver to speed off at gunpoint.

The bus, carrying four women passengers and a 4-year-old girl, raced through downtown for five minutes before broadsiding the minivan, killing Guadalupe Arrevalos, 34, of Norwalk, and crashing into a parcel delivery truck and a row of cars in a parking lot.

Authorities said Garcia jumped out of the wrecked bus and tried to carjack an automobile before he was swarmed by police and arrested.

Police found the handgun.

Prosecutors said Arrevalos, a Central Library worker and mother of three, was the victim in the counts alleging murder and evading an officer.

Lewis was the victim in the attempted-murder count.

Bus driver Ema Gutierrez, 48, and the five bus passengers were named as victims in the counts alleging kidnapping for carjacking.

The carjacking and robbery counts also involved the commandeering of the bus.

The attempted-carjacking charge involved the car Garcia allegedly tried to take after the crash.

Three people, who tried to change a flat tire in the left lane of Interstate 80, were sent to the hospital with minor injuries after the car they were driving was rearended by another.

California Highway Patrol officer Levy Barnes said at 9:15 a.m., the Pontiac Sunbird apparently had a flat tire, which caused the driver to stop on the freeway just north of the Powell Street exit in Emeryville without pulling out of traffic.

Shortly after the car stopped and the three occupants exited the car to inspect the flat front-left tire, a Ford Arostar ran into the rear of the Sunbird, which in turn pinned the three people against a concrete divider.

The three people, a woman and two men, who were inspecting the tire were taken to the to the hospital. The woman, who is in her mid-50s has a broken leg, the driver also in his 50s was complaining of chest pains and the other male, in his 40s, had unspecified injuries. The driver of the Arostar was uninjured, Barnes said.

Similar preparations are happening elsewhere across the country as demonstrators get ready to descend on the U.S. Penitentiary. On execution day, 20 prison buses will transport demonstrators from city parks to the prison grounds, where McVeigh, 33, is scheduled to die by injection.

Tents will be put up on the grassy field outside the prison to shelter demonstrators, and straw bales will provide limited seating. Warden Harley Lappin has met with state and national anti-death penalty groups, explaining detailed rules they must follow. Breeden’s puppets won’t be permitted on the grounds – only signs that can be rolled up are allowed.

“The folks we’ve talked with have indicated that they plan to come here and be law-abiding, peaceful protesters,” Lappin said. “We realize what we’re facing. ... It’s the execution of someone who’s very high profile in nature.”

Some death penalty opponents say McVeigh’s notoriety is not a factor – they would be protesting any execution.

“For most of us, it’s really about public policy and should the government be in the business of killing people,” said Abe Bonowitz, director of the national organization Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Bonowitz, who plans to lead a march in Terre Haute the day before the execution, said his organization is encouraging people nationwide to hold vigils and protests in their communities.

Demonstrators in Massachusetts will take to Boston Common the night before the execution, passing out anti-death penalty fliers and holding a vigil. Around the same time, there will be a demonstration in front of the federal building in Fresno, and an interfaith prayer service in Tucson, Ariz. Similar events are scheduled in Florida, Washington, Missouri and Nebraska.

In Oklahoma City, a small vigil is being planned near the Oklahoma City National Memorial, but no major anti-death penalty demonstrations have been discussed, said Bud Welch, who has been an ardent death penalty opponent since his daughter, Julie, was killed in the bombing.

“It’s just going to be low-key,” said Welch, who plans to be in Terre Haute.

While the prison will fence off equal-sized areas for pro- and anti-death penalty advocates, Lappin said he has not heard from any pro-death penalty groups planning to attend.

Diane Clements, president of Houston-based Justice For All, said death penalty supporters don’t need to speak out – the courts have already spoken.

“People don’t generally go out and have public demonstrations in support of the law,” Clements said. “The execution will move forward no matter who’s standing outside the gates.”

The April 19, 1995, blast at the Alfred P. Murrah Building killed 168 people.

Death penalty opponents acknowledge the nature of McVeigh’s crime makes it hard for some to protest his execution. For others, the fact that it’s a federal execution makes it all the more important to speak out.

“Because it’s federal, some people who were never that active are saying, ’I finally have to do something, I have to do something now,”’ said Jill Farlow, an activist from Indiana. “Other people say, ’This was so heinous, I just can’t do this.”’

Breeden’s husband, Bill Breeden, who teaches a class on the death penalty at a Unitarian church in nearby Bloomington, sums up what he believes McVeigh’s execution will accomplish: “It’s really just giving him another fuse to light. We’re giving him exactly what he wants.”

On The Net:

Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty: http://www.cuadp.org

“What they’ve done is thrown out the world’s oldest democracy and put a country with the world’s worst human rights record in its place, Sudan.”

At the White House, spokesman Ari Fleischer called the U.S. ouster from the panel “a disappointment,” but said it “will not stop this president or this country from speaking out strongly on matters of human rights.”

The panel itself has lost prestige, Fleischer indicated, as it “may not be perceived as the most powerful advocate of human rights in the world,” given its inclusion of Sudan and Libya, two nations the panel has accused of human-rights violations, and exclusion of the United States.

The House is scheduled to vote next week on an $8.2 billion State Department authorization bill that contains $582 million in back dues for the United Nations – long a contentious issue in Congress. The bill also includes $67 million to rejoin UNESCO 17 years after the United States left over concerns about political polarization and mismanagement.

Now, those payments could be in jeopardy.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said he and other lawmakers are “very seriously considering amendments that would reflect our dramatic loss of faith in the United Nations’ structure.

“Withholding funds is the best way to reflect such a loss of faith.”

And there’s “a real possibility” such amendments could succeed, said Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., former chairman of the House International Relations Committee.

“I think there’s going to be a severe reaction in the Congress,” Gilman said. In addition to cutting U.N. money, he said, “someone approached me last night on the floor (of the House) about withholding aid from countries that voted against us.”

Even Gilman’s own endorsement of paying back dues is wavering: “I’ve been supportive of paying the delinquency, but now I’m not too sure I want to rush into it.”

The United States had held a seat on the human rights panel since it was created in the 1940s.

It lost that seat through a secret vote Thursday in which France, Sweden and Austria were chosen for the three spots allocated to Western countries.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms, a frequent critic of the United Nations despite being an architect of the back-dues payment agreement, said, “The absence of the United States will mean that the victims of human rights abuses will no longer have a spokesman to defend their hopes for liberty and freedom.”

Former Secretary of State and U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright said the expulsion was a reflection of “short-term anger that has long-term effects, and I think it’s very unfortunate.

It’s a serious blow, but it’s as much a blow to the U.N., ... which has sidelined itself on human rights issues.”

To Kim Holmes of the conservative Heritage Foundation, the ouster was “an intentional slap at the United States.”

A number of countries, including allies, he said, “are unhappy with the Bush administration and looking for a way to signal

their displeasure.”

Allies have expressed distress over the Bush administration’s rejection of the Kyoto global warming treaty and its decision to move ahead on a national missile defense system despite their opposition, among other things.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher demurred from that view, saying, “I wouldn’t throw this into an entire critique of U.S. foreign policy by everybody in the world or anything like that.”

Instead, Boucher blamed regional solidarities and vote swapping.

The United States campaigned “very actively for membership” and got more than 40 assurances of support before winding up with only 29 votes, Boucher said.

“As far as who the dozen or so were that told us they would support us and didn’t vote for us, I don’t think we know at this point.”

The latest dispute comes at a time when the post of U.N. ambassador in New York remains vacant.

The White House announced nearly two months ago that Bush would nominate longtime career diplomat John D. Negroponte to the post, but the nomination has yet to be submitted to the Senate.

Some administration critics have suggested the absence of an envoy at the United Nations may have contributed to a lack of vigilance in detecting that a move was afoot to deny the United States a seat.

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration will allow a ban on road-building in much of the nation’s federal forest lands to take effect next week but will propose changes to it in June, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Friday.

The ban, a pivotal part of former President Clinton’s environmental legacy, ropes off 58.5 million acres – about a third of the federal forest land – from developers, loggers and mining companies. These industries have been lobbying to have the measure reversed.

Veneman did not provide details on the changes that will be offered. But she said they will seek to ensure local input on individual forest decisions. She called the plan a “commonsense approach to roadless protection.”

“Through this action we affirm the department’s commitment to the important challenge of protecting roadless values,” she said at a news conference.

Clinton’s policy, announced Jan. 5, was supposed to take effect in March. The Bush administration delayed implementation until May 12 while it conducted a review.

Veneman said the review showed a need to make sure the concerns of states, communities, Indian tribes and individuals are addressed. She said the proposed amendments next month “would lay out a process for local input on local decisions for local areas.”

Once the amendments are proposed, a public comment period will begin, Veneman said. How soon a plan is finalized will depend on how many comments are received.

Clinton’s plan generated 1.6 million public comments.

The vast majority of roadless federal forests are in the West, including parts of Idaho’s Bitterroot range and Alaska’s Tongass, viewed by environmentalists as North America’s rain forest.

Smaller sections are scattered across the country from Florida’s Apalachicola National Forest and Virginia’s George Washington National Forest to New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

The Clinton administration began creating the rules about three years ago, but did not issue them until two weeks before President Clinton left office.

The ban was praised by environmentalists as a way to protect the nation’s most pristine forest lands from developers and preserve critical wildlife habitats. Opponents, including the timber and mining industries, said the rules needlessly place valuable resources off-limits.

The state of Idaho and timber company Boise Cascade sued in federal court in Boise seeking to block the rule from taking effect. The Bush administration had until Friday to file a brief with the court outlining its analysis of the rule.

Veneman said the administration planned to tell the court it does not favor an injunction blocking implementation of the ban but will work on amending the plan. In an interim decision, U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge rejected a call to immediately block the Clinton policy. But he said there was “strong evidence” the rule-making process was hurried, that the Forest Service was not prepared to produce a “coherent proposal or meaningful dialogue and that the end result was predetermined.”

Prior to Veneman’s announcement, Chris West, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council, said he would be disappointed if the Bush administration kept the ban in place while a new rule was created. Such a move could put forests in the West at risk to insects, disease and fire because the roadless areas will be inaccessible, he said.

“What has us worried is what they are going to be doing in the interim,” said West, whose Portland, Ore.-based group represents timber interests.

Veneman said as the administration works to come up with amendments, it will seek to ensure protection against wildfires, insects and other issues that could affect communities, homes and property.

Marty Hayden, legislative director for Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, said Thursday he was worried any changes would return the government to where it was three years ago — trying to maintain 380,000 miles of roads that have an $8.5 billion maintenance backlog.

“They have chosen not to suspend it because they are feeling the heat of the public support that was behind the rule in the first place,” Hayden said. “But they are still heading down a path for undoing it.”

WASHINGTON — The unemployment rate jumped to 4.5 percent in April, reviving fears of recession as companies shed the largest number of jobs in a decade. The White House stoked that concern, suggesting that economic growth in the first quarter might be less than originally reported.

The Labor Department’s report Friday reinforced worries that rising layoffs might cause consumers to cut back sharply on spending and tip the country into a recession.

“How do you spell ugly? How about horrible? It doesn’t get much worse than this, I hope,” said economist Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors.

Just a week ago, the government reported that the economy grew at a surprisingly strong rate of 2 percent in the first three months of this year, raising hopes that the darkest days of the slowdown had passed.

But White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Friday that first-quarter growth might have been slower than that, referring to projections being made by some private economists.

“The president continues to be concerned about the strength of the economy and the slowness in the economy,” Fleischer said. “He believes that the best way to protect the economy and get it moving again is for Congress to take prompt action to pass the budget and to put his tax cut

into place, especially on a retroactive fashion.”

However, Wall Street investors saw a silver lining in the dismal news, believing it raised hopes that the Federal Reserve will aggressively cut interest rates and Congress will provide tax relief. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 154.59 points to finish at 10,951.24, the highest level since Feb. 6.

Some private economists believe first-quarter growth could be revised down a bit, based on expectations of weaker business investment and consumer spending. Others, however, think growth might be a bit stronger.

The government routinely comes out with three estimates of economic growth for a given quarter, each one based on more complete information. The next estimate of first-quarter growth will be released May 25.

But the real concern among private economists is the performance of the economy in the current second quarter. Friday’s employment report for April provided analysts with a critical new piece of information and raised concerns that the worst of the economic slowdown is not over.

“The April employment figures are recession-type numbers,” said First Union economist Mark Vitner. “The economy is losing momentum and ... the odds of recession have increased.”

Last month, 223,000 people lost their jobs, the largest reduction since February 1991, when the country was still mired in its last recession.

It was the second straight month of job losses. In March, 53,000 people were cut from payrolls, which actually was an improvement over the reduction of 86,000 the government had previously reported.

Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo, said that the promotions, rebates and price cuts that helped to fuel consumer spending earlier this year cut into corporate profits and were now triggering layoffs.

“The bottom line is that a profit recession is leading to a higher jobless rate,” Sohn said.

The big loss in jobs boosted April’s unemployment rate to a 2-1/2 year high of 4.5 percent, a 0.2 percentage-point increase over March’s’ 4.3 percent rate.

“The reaction of consumers to increased layoffs will be critical” in determining whether the country can dodge a recession, warned Lynn Reaser, chief economist for Bank of America Capital Management.

She and other economists are still hopeful that aggressive action by the Fed will keep the economy afloat. The central bank has already cut rates four times this year and economists are looking for another half-point reduction at the Fed’s next meeting on May 15.

In Friday’s report, job losses were widespread, although retailers managed to hire 22,000 people, many of them at bars, restaurants and food stores.

Manufacturing, which has been hardest hit by the slowdown, lost another 104,000 jobs last month, pushing total reductions since June to 554,000. Two-thirds of those job losses occurred in the past four months.

Construction companies, which have been adding jobs over the last several months, cut 64,000 jobs in April, possibly reflecting the impact of heavy rains in some parts of the country.

Employment in a variety of business services fell by 121,000 last month. Temporary employment services experienced another sharp decline of 108,000 last month, and have lost 370,000 jobs since September.

There was some good news for workers in the report. Their paychecks continue to grow. Average hourly earnings rose 0.4 percent in April to $14.22 an hour. That matched the gain in March. The length of the average workweek in April was unchanged at 34.3 hours.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Six months after Florida plunged the presidential race into chaos, lawmakers approved a sweeping election overhaul Friday that will banish the hanging chads and butterfly ballots that made the state a laughingstock.

The $32 million measure now goes to Gov. Jeb Bush, who is expected to sign it as early as next week.

“We took advantage of the scrutiny the state got and rather than trying to relive the past, we’ve been focusing on making sure 2002 looks a lot different,” Bush said.

Since the November recount that put Bush’s older brother in the White House, Florida has passed the most significant election reform package in the country.

The plan, approved 120-0 by the House and 38-2 by the Senate, will establish uniform guidelines for recounts in close elections. It will also eliminate mechanical lever voting and punchcard and hand-counted paper ballots.

Instead, every precinct will have optical-scan ballot systems for the 2002 elections. The plan earmarks $24 million for counties to buy the equipment.

“In one word, hooray!” said Deanie Lowe, the Volusia County elections supervisor. “I am just thrilled to death over what they’ve accomplished.”

The legislation requires a machine recount if the margin of victory in any race is half a percent or less and a manual recount of the overvotes and undervotes – ballots where voting machines pick up multiple choices or no clear choice – if the margin is one-quarter of 1 percent or less.

The secretary of state must also draft rules on how to read ambiguous ballots. During last fall’s recounts, counties used differing standards, creating disputes over hanging, pregnant and dimpled chads.

Also, provisional ballots will be given to people who are not on voter rolls but say they are eligible to vote. Elections officials will later determine if the ballots are valid. Last fall, some voters, many of them black, complained they were wrongly denied the right to vote.

“Florida led the country into a disastrous election morass, but now it’s showing the way out of the morass,” said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political science professor who is conducting a nationwide elections reform study.

“It’s much less likely Florida will ever be in that embarrassing position again. This could serve as model legislation for other states.”

In Georgia, lawmakers have passed a bill that requires a statewide electronic voting system in place by 2004, but they did not include money to pay for it. Maryland lawmakers have voted to require all counties to use a uniform voting system, possibly as early as next year.

Florida’s governor was eager to change the state’s maligned election system after recounts delayed his brother’s election for 36 days and left many Democrats believing Al Gore had won.

The punchcard ballots were blamed for tens of thousands of uncounted votes. The final tally had George W. Bush winning the state by just 537 votes out of about 6 million cast.

“Clearly, if what they passed had been in place a year ago, Al Gore would be in the White House and George Bush would be back in Texas,” Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe said Friday.

McAuliffe has noted that manual recounts were supported by Florida Republicans after being opposed by Bush aides during the recount debacle.

The new optical scanners read ballots on which voters fill in a bubble or complete an arrow. There will be no more recounts with elections workers squinting at chads.

“This is a milestone piece of legislation,” said Hillsborough County elections supervisor Pam Iorio, president of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections. “Out of a negative situation came very positive change.”

Palm Beach County’s Theresa LePore, a Democrat vilified by both parties for designing the butterfly ballot blamed for confusing voters, said she was disappointed lawmakers didn’t make the supervisor of elections a nonpartisan position.

Her canvassing board’s chairman, Judge Charles Burton, praised the plan and said every state should have uniform standards for manual recounts.

“You should not leave it up to various boards when you’re making a partisan decision,” he said during a panel discussion on election reform in Boston. “We were counting dings, spit marks and drool marks.”

Last fall, the biotech industry was embarrassed when a type of genetically engineered corn that wasn’t approved for human consumption was found in taco shells.

At the time, a sophisticated test for detecting a special protein in the corn hadn’t been developed.

“We’ve learned a lot of lessons, that’s the bottom line,” Lisa Katic, director of scientific and nutrition policy for the Grocery Manufacturers of America, said Friday.

“We need to know what’s in our products.”

Officials with biotech companies say that testing methods will be made available to the government.

Biotech soy and corn are found in foods throughout U.S. supermarkets because biotech and conventional crops are routinely mixed together.

In a letter sent to the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday, the grocery manufacturers say they must be able to tell whether ingredients include gene-altered crops.

Many overseas buyers don’t want foods made from biotech crops, and the European Union and Japan require such foods to be labeled.

The agency is considering tightening up its approval process for biotech crops in response to consumer and food industry concerns.

The agency has proposed a mandatory review process for new biotech products that will include posting scientific data on the Internet. FDA also proposed voluntary labeling guidelines for foods that claim either to be nonbiotech or to have special biotech ingredients.

Genetic engineering in agriculture involves splicing a gene from one organism, such as a bacterium, into a plant or animal to confer certain traits, such as herbicide or insect resistance in plants.

Monsanto Co. has created a herbicide-resistant wheat that may be ready as early as 2003. Biotech varieties of fruit, vegetables, fish and livestock are in various stages of development.

“We believe that detection methods for biotech-derived food and feed that are traded globally should be available to regulatory agencies,” said Loren Wassell, a spokesman for Monsanto.

The biotech StarLink corn that spawned the food recalls has since been removed from the market, and the Environmental Protection Agency has said it will not approve another biotech crop unless it is allowed for both animal feed and human use.

StarLink was not approved for food because of unanswered questions about its potential to cause allergic reactions. It was supposed to be kept separate from food-grade corn, but many farmers weren’t informed about the restrictions, or else ignored them. StarLink has subsequently been found in both grain and seed supplies.

Critics of biotech food say that while diagnostic tests are needed, FDA also should require new biotech crops to go through the more rigorous and lengthy approval process required of food additives.

The grocery manufacturers, like the biotech companies, oppose that idea.

“It sounds like GMA has the last half of the piece,” said Joseph Mendelson, legal director for the Center for Food Safety, an anti-biotech advocacy group.

ATHENS, Greece — Pope John Paul II arrived in Greece on Friday for a personal pilgrimage with much wider implications: trying to heal nearly 1,000 years of discord between the Vatican and Orthodox churches.

John Paul is the first pope to visit Greece in nearly 13 centuries.

His six-day trip – his first international voyage in a year – retraces the biblical journeys of the Apostle Paul through Greece, Syria and Malta.

The pope, walking slowly off the plane, was saluted by an Air Force honor guard. No senior members of the Greek Orthodox Church turned out to welcome him – underscoring the delicate and potentially tumultuous nature of the pope’s visit.

The pope hopes help close the deep estrangement between the Vatican and Orthodox churches. Christianity split into the two branches nearly 1,000 years ago in disputes over papal authority.

The effort for greater contacts would receive a major boost if supported by the Greek Orthodox, one of the pillars of faith for the world’s more than 200 million Orthodox.

The leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos, is expected to make a public statement demanding a formal papal apology for the Crusades that led to the fall of the Greek Byzantine Empire and other perceived misdeeds against the Orthodox Church. Such a statement by the pope could help open an important ecumenical dialogue.

But the Greek Orthodox Church also represent a hotbed of dissent.

Its clergymen and followers have long looked upon the Vatican with suspicion that has often spilled into open hostility.

The ill feelings draw from potent sources: religion, ethnic pride and a perception of historical injustice.

“It is blasphemy to the memory of our saints to allow the pope in Greece,” said Athens University theologian Giorgos Metalinos at an anti-pope gathering Wednesday of more than 1,000 people.

Protesters – from monks to parish priests – plan more rallies during the pope’s 24-hour stay. They promise to drape monasteries in black and ring church bells in a symbol of mourning. At some churches, Greek and ancient Byzantine flags were lowered to half-staff.

Some zealots have threatened to block the papal motorcade from reaching Areopagus hill, the judicial center of ancient Athens where Paul made his sermons in A.D. 51.

But the opposition appeared to fizzle just hours before the pope’s arrival.

Some former protest leaders appealed for calm – apparently bowing to pressure from the government and mainstream church leaders.

Security forces were taking no chances, setting up roadblocks and dispatching more then 5,000 police officers across the city.

The demonstrators represent the Greek government’s worse fears: that they will steal attention from the pope and show the world that prosperity and modernization has not fully erased the nation’s anti-Western outlook.

And at the Greek parliament, the flag of the Holy See waved alongside the Greek flag.

Still, most Greeks are raised to be wary of Roman Catholics. More than 95 percent of Greece’s 11 million people

are baptized into the

Orthodox church.

School books blame the Crusaders for the fall of the Greek Byzantine Empire in the 15th century – the prelude for what Greeks consider their ultimate humiliation: nearly 400 years of domination under the Muslim Ottoman Empire.

But that was better than bowing to the Roman Catholic West, most Greeks are taught, and everyone knows the anti-Vatican adage: “Better the Turkish turban than the papal tiara.”

The pope has been to mostly Orthodox countries before: Romania and Georgia.

But the Greek backlash is more intense. Greek Orthodox clerics portray themselves as guardians of both the nation’s ethnic identity and the original spirit of Christianity.

Many still believe the Vatican seeks to infiltrate the Orthodox heartland, stretching from the Balkans to Russia.

They particularly condemn Eastern Rite churches, which follow many Orthodox traditions but are loyal to the Vatican. An influential Eastern Rite cleric, Cardinal Ignace Moussa Daoud, was dropped from the papal delegation after objections from Greek Orthodox leaders.

The Vatican, in turn, has spoken about alleged discrimination against Greece’s 50,000 native-born Roman Catholics.

SAN FRANCISCO — Computer chip designer Rambus Inc. has lost a crucial round in its legal fight to enforce patent claims that could generate $1 billion in royalties.

A federal judge in Virginia on Friday dismissed Rambus’ allegations that German chip maker Infineon Technologies infringed on patents for chip designs that help accelerate the speed of video game consoles and personal computers.

The ruling represented a significant setback for Los Altos-based Rambus, which is pursuing a dozen patent infringement claims against Infineon, Hyundai and Micron. The chip makers are suing Rambus for breach of contract and seeking to invalidate Rambus patents.

Investors reacted swiftly to the news, released shortly before the stock market closed for the week. The Nasdaq Stock Market temporarily halted trading in the stock. When trading resumed, Rambus’ shares plunged $3.55, or 19.6 percent, to close at $14.60. However, they regained some of those losses in the after-hours session, rising 92 cents.

The outcome of the patent battles will have a huge impact on Rambus’ fortunes. If Rambus prevails, the company could collect $1 billion in annual royalties from chip sales, estimated Morgan Stanley Dean Witter analyst Mark Edelstone, who downgraded Rambus’ stock on Friday’s news.

Rambus is on a pace to generate about $100 million in royalties during its current fiscal year.

The adverse ruling could force Rambus to lower the royalties charged its licensees, which include Samsung, Hitachi, Toshiba and NEC.

“If the courts rule these patents are invalid, you have to wonder how long these other companies are going to want to pay royalties,” Edelstone said.

Rambus earned $21.1 million on revenues of $66 million during the first half of its fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Royalties accounted for 77 percent of the company’s revenues during the period.

Rambus intends to appeal Friday’s ruling.

“Rambus will continue to fight to protect our intellectual property,” CEO Geoff Tate said. “Though Rambus is a relatively small company, we will not be cowed by the aggressive tactics of some industry giants who would take our innovations without any compensation.”

The company, which holds more than 100 patents worldwide, will get its next chance to prove its case against Infineon in a European trial scheduled to begin May 18.

Several chip patents recently issued to Rambus aren’t affected by Friday’s ruling, according to the company.

Rambus’ unusually high royalty rates helped provoke the legal confrontation. In the Virginia trial, Rambus executives disclosed that the company charges a 3.5 percent royalty for one of its memory chip designs, about three times the industry average.

The higher royalty expense can make the difference between a profit and loss for chip makers.

Popular assumptions can create vast misimpressions, such as the one that the typical American household has become a daring investor in stocks, devouring market data and trading aggressively.

It isn’t so, or at least a careful study suggests that to be the case. The study goes even further, using words such as “passive” and “languid” in describing investors’ behaviorr, and stating that they respond “sluggishly.”

If the study’s authors are correct, it demolishes an impression held by a vast number of people that Americans have become masters of their financial fate, daringly creating wealth like no others in history.

It includes even some corporate chairmen, and stock brokers, market gurus, advertisers, new-age authors and book publishers, commentators and members of the media who have declaimed about the new American investor.

They had good reason to believe they were right. Hard numbers, the sort of thing these types profess to believe in but do not always comprehend correctly, seemed to support their opinions.

Federal Reserve figures, for example, showed household stock holdings grew from $2.6 trillion to $12.6 trillion in the 1990s. And stocks that had been just 13 percent of household assets in 1990 jumped to

33 percent.

Could the Fed have been wrong? It could have been, of course, but it wasn’t.

The explanation comes from the latest study, this one issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which explains the vast distinction between aggregate and typical, and the dangers of confusing them.

The Fed’s statistics for the 1990s are aggregates for an economic sector, the household sector. To simply divide the aggregate numbers by the number of households misconstrues and misinforms.

If the aggregates were the result of enormous numbers of Americans changing their behavior of many years, it would represent a social change of huge proportions. But it was not so, the authors say.

In a study for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Joseph Tracy and Henry Schneider found behavioral change appears to have played only a moderate role, as did demographic shifts and changing pension plans.

“Despite intensive media attention to the stock market boom of the 1990s,” they write, “most households that owned some stocks during the period did not rush to buy more. Similarly, most households that held no stocks refrained from acquiring them.”

The average household equity share rose in the 1990s “not so much because Americans were flocking to Wall Street’s party, but because those already attending decided to stay on.”

By staying on, a rather passive approach, these existing investors enjoyed spectacular returns, realizing what Tracy and Schneider found was “an astonishing 26.3 percent average annual return from 1996 to 1999.” In short, Americans during the soaring market were hardly the daring venturers in financial space envisioned by so many, but the same old Milquetoasts of old.

But now a word or two about the benefits of passivity:

“One implication of our results is that the typical household may behave in similarly languid fashion if market returns over the current decade drop below their historical average,” Tracy and Schneider said.

“In that event, the average household equity share is likely to fall, but by less than it would if households were racing for the exits.” In that sense, languidness serves as a stabilizer, an antidote to volatility.

NEW YORK — Stocks moved higher Friday as more dismal economic news raised hopes that the Federal Reserve will aggressively cut interest rates.

The Labor Department reported that the nation’s unemployment rate shot up to 4.5 percent in April, the highest level in 2 1/2 years. The figures also showed that businesses slashed their payrolls by the largest amount since the recession in 1991.

At the White House, meanwhile, press secretary Ari Fleischer said President Bush “remains very concerned about the strength of the economy.” He added that the Bush administration believes it’s “entirely possible” that the government’s recent 2 percent reading for the nation’s first-quarter economic growth will be revised downward.

Stocks rose on expectations that the economic news will prompt Fed policy makers to cut interest rates a half a percentage point when they meet May 15. Earlier, the odds had been on a quarter-point cut.

Ed Yardeni, chief investment strategist for Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown in New York, said it was extremely rare for the White House to predict a revision in a key economic measure such as the 2 percent gross domestic product reading. He suggested the Bush administration “is positioning here for a quick passage of the tax cut” favored by the president.

He said the employment figures “clearly indicate economic weakness is spreading to the consumer sector” and said that increased the likelihood of a half percentage point, or 50 basis point, interest rate cut by the Fed.

Scott Marcouiller, a vice president and market analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons of St. Louis, concurred.

“The odds of a 50 basis point cut increased dramatically in the last 48 hours,” he said.

The size of the increase in the unemployment rate and the cut in jobs surprised many analysts. They were predicting the unemployment rate would rise to 4.4 percent and that businesses would add jobs during the month.

— The Associated Press

The figures worry investors because weakness in employment tends to depress consumer spending. That, in turn, could prolong the economic weakness that has been evident in the economy since late last year.

Among those taking big hits in early trading were Wind River Systems Inc., with its shares dropping $2.47 to $23.71. The company late Thursday cut its first-quarter earnings projections to a range of 4 cents to 6 cents a share. It cited a significant slowdown in customer spending and said it will cut its work force by up to 15 percent.

Advancing issues slightly outnumbered declining shares on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 477.98 million shares compared with 502.33 million at the same time a day earlier.

The Russell 2000 index, which measures the performance of smaller companies stocks, was down 0.42 at 485.23.

SAN FRANCISCO — Tracking growth of the nation’s Hispanic population, the Cinco de Mayo holiday has become a bull’s-eye for businesses targeting a largely untapped market.

Never mind that May Fifth is little hyped in Mexico, where re-enactments of a fleeting victory over French forces in 1862 are far more sober than the beer-soaked bashes that erupt in U.S. cities.

“It’s a promotional opportunity for corporations, because basically marketers have invented Cinco de Mayo as a holiday,” said Carlos Santiago, founder of a Newport Beach-based multicultural consulting firm.

Once the domain of food and drink suppliers, the holiday has become a shortcut for companies that seek access to America’s 35 million Hispanics. Credit card firms, retiree service groups and even corporate recruiters are joining the likes of Taco Bell and Corona beer for a chance to pitch the Hispanic market.

Though it commemorates Mexico’s most famous military triumph, Cinco de Mayo has become both an expression of Mexican-American pride and a fiesta with crossover appeal to the entire country. This Saturday, places as far afield as Park City, Utah, and Rogers, Ark., will throw their first Cinco de Mayo festivals.

They’re examples of how Hispanics – led by Mexican Americans – have fanned out from major immigrant states such as California, Texas and New York. Recent census data report that, nationally, the Hispanic population grew by 58 percent in the 1990s.

Their purchasing power appears to be growing at least as fast.

The disposable income of Hispanics jumped 118 percent during the 1990s to $452 billion in 2001, according to a study by the University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth. That increase dwarfed the 68 percent rise in disposable income among non Hispanics. Nationally, the study pegged total disposable income at just over $7 trillion.

More people with more money to spend – it excites advertisers, who are bounding toward a market that’s not yet overwhelmed by product jingles.

Santiago estimates Hispanics should command about $16 billion of the estimated $200 billion spent on advertising each year. Instead, Santiago said, the total is around $2 billion.

Groups such as the American Association of Retired Persons are looking to catch up. AARP spent about $100,000 paying for a performance stage and literature at Los Angeles’ Cinco de Mayo festival last Sunday.

“I thought it was awesome,” said Nancy Franklin, the group’s director of membership development. “A lot of people are not aware of AARP in the Hispanic community.”

Western Union will co-sponsor New York City’s Cinco de Mayo event this weekend. And Minnesota-based credit card issuer Metris Cos. plans to sponsor Cinco de Mayo festivals, part of its aggressive marketing to Hispanic customers.

That’s not to say that traditional supporters of the holiday are beating a retreat.

“It’s really a cornerstone of our annual marketing plan,” said Don Mann of San Antonio-based Gambrinus Co., the largest U.S. importer of Corona beers. “We’re promoting it to the general market. Some of these other companies that are new to it are focusing on the Latino market.”

Cinco de Mayo also has become an occasion for companies to push not just their products, but their work environments as well. Federal Express set up a booth at the Cinco de Mayo festival in Fort Worth, Texas, and logged 300 job applications.

And the schmoozing doesn’t have to take place at a street stall.

On Wednesday evening, the Fox Entertainment Group sponsored an event at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach. It attracted dozens of Hispanic professionals, who heard pitches from Fox as well as other companies such as Wells Fargo and Deloitte & Touche.

“Right now there’s a big demand to recruit,” said Miguel Figueroa, president of the Los Angeles-area chapter of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, which organized the event. “The company gains exposure, they also gain talent.”

NEW YORK — Wall Street has no doubt that the stock market and the economy will eventually regain the kind of strength they enjoyed for much of the last decade.

The question is when.

Investors and market observers won’t like the answer from this past week: Longer than they had thought, perhaps not even this year.

A spike in unemployment and warnings from companies of weak second-quarter and full-year earnings bode ill for a near-term recovery. Indeed, analysts say, the economy could still be recession-bound and that stock prices might have further to fall.

“Listen, we are in for a grind here,” said Charles White, portfolio manager at Avatar Associates in New York. “It doesn’t mean stock prices have to go materially lower, but it means that the catalyst for being off to the races is a ways off.”

Investors were disturbed this past week by two labor reports that quelled some of their resurgent optimism and reawakened worries about recession.

The market still managed to move sharply higher on Friday – with the Dow Jones industrials reaching a closing high not seen since early February – but only because investors believe the economy is so weak that the Federal Reserve will have no choice but to deliver a big interest rate cut when its policy makers meet May 15.

The most troubling news about the economy came Friday when the Labor Department said the unemployment rate jumped to 4.5 percent in April, its highest level in 2 years. The report also said businesses cut their payrolls by the largest amount since the recession in 1991.

The data followed Thursday’s news that first-time claims for jobless benefits reached a 5-year high the previous week.

Employment reports are watched closely because consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the U.S. economy, is directly tied to whether Americans are working and feeling secure about their jobs.

“We have known for some time that we were in a manufacturing (and technology) recession and a profits recession; now it threatens to spread to the consumer,” said Robert Stovall, market strategist for Prudential Securities.

There’s no mistaking now, he added, that many companies have suffered as the economy has slumped.

One example from the past week was Newell Rubbermaid, which warned of poor profits for the remainder of the year after missing first-quarter expectations. The housewares and consumer products maker also said it will slash 3,000 jobs, or 6 percent of its workforce.

The weak labor data and corporate warnings overshadowed a strong economic report the previous week, when the Commerce Department said the gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 2 percent in the first quarter.

“The GDP report was just a false cue. It seemed to be an aberration of a trend,” said A.C. Moore, chief investment strategist for Dunvegan Associates in Santa Barbara, Calif. “The economy is pretty weakened here.”

The White House acknowledged as much on Friday as press secretary Ari Fleischer said the Bush administration believes it’s “entirely possible” that the government’s recent 2 percent reading for the nation’s first-quarter economic growth will be revised downward.

Friday’s rally aside, so long as there’s proof that the economy and business climate is quite weak, the market won’t be able to maintain its upward momentum, said White, the portfolio manager.

“The market has been going up recently on the hopes and dreams of a recovery by the fourth quarter,” White said. “It was way too soon to discuss recovery.”

If history repeats itself, however, stock prices could head higher in the second half. Traditionally, the market’s major indexes begin to show improvement six months after the Federal Reserve begins lowering interest rates. The central bank made its first cut just after New Year’s.

History has even more to offer investors who need encouragement, said Moore of Dunvegan.

“It’s been a bull market since the Dark Ages,” he quipped.

Despite the continuing uncertainty, the market’s major indexes managed to end the week with healthy gains.

The Dow finished the week up 141.19, or 1.3 percent, at 10,951.24 on a 154.59 gain Friday. That was the Dow’s highest close since it reached 10,957.42 on Feb. 6.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 115.85, or 5.6 percent for the week. It closed Friday at 2,191.53 on a gain of 45.33.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 ended the week up 13.56, a 1.1 percent change, after rising 18.03 to 1,266.61 Friday.

The Wilshire Associates Equity Index — which represents the combined market value of all New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq issues — ended the week at $11.687 trillion, up $178 billion from the previous week. A year ago, the index was $13.385 trillion.

That national teacher shortage hasn’t hit Berkeley as hard as some districts.

Whether it’s the city’s progressive reputation, the presence of UC Berkeley, the public school district’s record of innovation, or the weather — Berkeley schools seem to draw teachers from all over.

A job fair earlier this year drew nearly 250 teaching candidates, inquiring about 25 to 50 openings anticipated over the summer.

Despite its best efforts, however, the Berkeley Unified School District is far from meeting its goal of recruiting a teaching staff whose racial composition is comparable to its students.

“I don’t know, frankly, if it will even happen in my life time,” said the district’s new personnel chief, David Gomez, in an interview last week.

In 1999, the district had teacher/student racial disparity in three key areas. That year, 518 teachers were 72 percent white, 14 percent African-American and 5 percent Hispanic, compared to a student body that was 31 percent white, 39 percent African-American and 13 percent Hispanic.

There simply aren’t enough people of color going into the teaching profession to even begin to meet the demand, Gomez said.

In neighboring Oakland, for example, only 6 percent of the district’s 54,000 students were white in 1999, compared to 48 percent of its teachers.

Berkeley must draw from an even smaller pool of minority candidates than some districts, Gomez said, because it traditionally hires only teachers with several years experience under their belt. “That’s the frustration,” Gomez said. “We get great candidates — hard workers with good attitudes — but they lack the training and experience.

“We know the need is there, and we’re starting to take steps to get to the goal,” Gomez added. “But it’s an upward battle. It’s difficult.”

In addition to its larger recruitment fairs, the district holds fairs specifically for minorities each year. It works with a local non-profit called “Project Pipeline,” which identifies college students of color who are good candidates for the teaching profession and helps them work toward their teaching credentials.

In any given year, the district employs a number of Project Pipeline students as interns, helping them broaden their teaching experience while they work towards credentials.

But programs like Project Pipeline are handicapped by the declining numbers of students of color entering and graduating from top universities, Gomez said.

“When affirmative action was taken away from the UC, you lost a really good group,” Gomez said. That group, Gomez said, could have been recruited into the teaching profession.

According to Gomez, it is a vicious cycle. Students of color attend public schools with few teachers of color to act as role models, which contributes to the academic achievement gap, which keeps students of color from attending top colleges, which prevents the pool of qualified minority teachers from growing.

Affirmative action, of course, was supposed to reverse cycles like this. But in absence of a political solution like affirmative action, it falls increasingly to school districts themselves. Districts now have to get involved in outreach and other efforts to prepare qualified minority teachers, Gomez said.

In the past, one of the ways the district has done this is by having its teachers and principals recruit talented young people of color to volunteer at the various school sites as, “instructional assistants.” This approach allows the district to groom its own minority teachers. By mentoring talented individuals one by one the district can encourage them to work towards their teaching credentials.

Gomez said he is applying for grants that would allow him to “formalize” and expand this program in the near future.

Gomez said he also plans to visit college classrooms next year himself, helping to get the word out that the Berkeley Unified School District wants more teachers of color and is prepared to help interested students pursue a career in teaching.

Monday, June 4

Special Father’s Day showing of the acclaimed documentary for Berkeley teen’s and their families. Introduced by Tom Weidlinger, followed by audience discussion. Free.

849-2683

www.berkeleypta.org

Rent Stabilization Board

Meeting

7 p.m.

2134 MLK Jr. Way

Council Chambers, 2nd floor

Among other items, the board will hear the appeal by both the tenants and the landlord of 2223 and 2227 Bonar Street of the decision of the hearing examiner.

644-6128

Tuesday, June 5

Berkeley Camera Club

7:30 p.m.

Northbrae Community Church

941 The Alameda

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips.

Call Wade, 531-8664

Berkeley Farmers’ Market

2 - 7 p.m.

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street

548-3333

Young Queer Women’s Group

8 - 9:30 p.m.

Pacific Center

2712 Telegraph Ave.

Make some new friends, expand your horizons and get support with a bunch of queer women all in the same place at the same time (somewhere between 18 and 25).

548-8283 or visit www.pacificcenter.org

Intelligent Conversation

7 - 9 p.m.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center

A discussion group open to all, regardless of age, religion, viewpoint, etc. This time the discussion topic is open and will follow the conversation. Informally led by Robert Berend, who founded similar groups in L.A., Menlo Park, and Prague. Bring light snacks/drinks to share. Free

527-5332

Bike for a Better City Action

Meeting

6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

1356 Rose St.

www.bfbc.org

Groundbreaking of ARTech

Building

9 a.m.

ARTech Building

2101 Milvia St.

Computer Technologies Program celebrates the groundbreaking of its new offices in the ARTech building.

Wednesday, June 6

Fishbowl: “Everything you

always wanted to know about

the opposite sex but were

afraid to ask”

7 p.m.. to 9 p.m.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center

1414 Walnut St.

Find out what the other half really thinks! The Fishbowl is an interesting way to anonymously ask those burning questions. $8 for BRJCC members, $10 for general public. 848-0237 x127.

South Berkeley Community

Action Team Advisory Group

Meeting

7 p.m.

Over 60’s Clinic

3260 Sacramento, 2nd Floor

All South and West Berkeley residents invited to the regular meeting. Among other agenda items, the planning of upcoming Town Hall meeting. Refreshments provided.

665-6809

ASAP Open House

5 - 8 p.m.

2070 Allston Way, Suite 2

Access to Software for All People is having its 6th annual open house and invites the public to welcome new Executive Director John Kittredge. Refreshments and presentations of ASAP Web Design and Data Management, as well as work by high school employees.

540-7457

Thursday, June 7

Berkeley Metaphysical

Toastmasters Club

6:15 - 7:30 p.m.

2515 Hillegass Ave.

Public speaking skills and metaphysics come together. Ongoing first and third Thursdays each month.

Call 869-2547

Berkeley Unified School

District

Appreciation Dinner

6 p.m.

Berkeley Alternative High School

2701 MLK Jr. Way

Berkeley Unified School District Office of State and Federal Projects honors District Title I/State Compensatory Education, English Learner Advisory Committee representatives, and departing school principals.

Absolutely brilliant. One word, not 200, is enough to describe Bush’s Long Range Energy Policy. We must thank The Almighty God, the God of Texas, Israel and Taiwan and the Whole Warmed World for putting these three great geniuses Bush, Cheney and Powell in the big white house. A new millennium of bliss and abundance is upon us, the word “conservation” forever banned from the vocabulary. I think we should repaint the white temple in gold, the soft golden hue of oil.

Jan H. Visser

Berkeley

Davis’ plea for help is a bad sign

Editor:

Governor Gray Davis’ recent plea for a quick Presidential energy fix in the form of price caps is an ominous sign that he has given up on his own solutions.

Apparently Governor Davis has completely run out of ideas on how to fix the energy crisis he ignored for two years until it was too late, and his begging for price caps comes in the face of bipartisan opposition to such a short-sighted solution.

The fact is that last December, Davis’ energy advisors at the ISO asked the FERC to remove price caps because they were constricting supply and threatening blackouts. Even President Clinton’s FERC chairperson opposed price caps because they can lead to blackouts.

What’s worse, now Governor Davis has hired paid political attack dogs on the state payroll to point fingers at Washington. If the Governor’s only solution is to blame Washington for his own problems, then he ought to consider forfeiting his paycheck because he will have completely abdicated his responsibility to provide Californians with solutions.

Here are some unsolicited suggestions. Let’s make California an energy-independent state by 2004. Let’s invest in our own home-grown energy sources and use energy more efficiently. Let’s ensure we have healthy utilities and that our state isn’t burdened for decades by high energy costs.

The bottom line? Davis should take off his price cap and put on his thinking cap. That’s the only way we’re going to weather this crisis.

Assemblyman Dave Cox

California Assembly Republican Leader

Berkeley should look into Brown’s program

Editor:

In Oakland, Mayor Brown has proposed a program for renewable energy in which the city will waive fees and expedite plans for residents who want to install solar panels.

Berkeley should do likewise.

Phil McArdle

Berkeley

It will be hard to find someone to punish for power crisis

Editor:

Some of us are pondering how to properly punish the pusillanimous politicians who have perpetrated the present power crisis by passing the deregulation proposal a few years ago.

Normally, we can turn the responsible rascals out and put the other set of rascals into office for a while. But there are some problems with this.

For one thing, none of the legislators who produced this monstrosity will personally be up for re-election. Whether because of term limits or for other reasons, all of these rascals, having kicked their constituents in the teeth, have sensibly decided that now would be a good time for a career change.

For another thing, deregulation was not only a bi-partisan project; the vote was unanimous. No legislator in either party or in either house voted against it.

However, people are not elected to the state legislature as individuals, but as part of a political party whose program they are pledged to implement.

Since both major parties are responsible for the current looting of virtually the entire state, it seems only fair that we should vote against all the candidates of both these blatantly pro-business parties.

But since we can only vote against something by voting for something else, we need to have a party with a clean record on de-regulation on the ballot.

The Peace and Freedom Party has nearly enough voters registered in its name to regain the ballot status it had formerly. Registrars are reporting that large numbers of voters are abandoning the old, discredited parties and registering independent. But a “declines to state” puts no alternative on the ballot.

At this point, the most constructive step we can take towards resolving the power crisis may be to switch our registrations to Peace and Freedom.

The No. 1 ranked Cal men’s varsity eight won its third-consecutive IRA National Championship in Cherry Hill, NJ, on Saturday. Cal raced from the front all the way down the 2000-meter Cooper River racecourse to cross the line in 5 minutes and 34 seconds – three seconds faster than runner-up Princeton. The Bears capped another undefeated and secured Steve Gladstone a ninth IRA Championship. Cal’s JV eight and varsity four won IRA titles of their own and the freshman eight took bronze. It was the Bears 12th varsity IRA title moving Cal into a tie with Navy at No. 2 on the all-time list.

“I’m very, very happy,” Gladstone said. “All our crews performed well. They rowed precise and courageous races. It was a great race by the varsity.”

In the varsity challenge cup, Princeton had a better start and a slight advantage. By the time the Bears reached 400 meters, they were working on a half-length advantage. Cal had a length on third-place Washington at 800 and Princeton was dropping off Cal’s pace. By the 1000, Cal had a length on both the Tigers and Huskies and were readying themselves for the sprint to the finish. In the end, Cal took gold, Princeton silver and UW Bronze. Cornell Brown and Northeastern rounded out the field.

“Before the race we decided that we were going to go for it at the 1200,” said coxswain Michael Vallarelli. “We had a solid start and gradually settled in to race pace which was a bit higher than usual. With 800 meters to go we sat up and drove to the line.”

“That was it,” said junior Scott Frandsen. “That was flat out for 2000 meters.”

The Cal varsity four also emerged from the IRA with a National Championship. The Bears led form start to finish laying down a blistering first thousand to lead by open water at the midpoint of the race. Completely spent heading into the final 400 meters, the Bears held off Wisconsin and Cornell to claim gold, Georgia Tech, Minnesota and Princeton rounded out the top six.

It was a special day for senior and team captain Luke Walton. Walton with the help of his teammates, completed a perfect collegiate racing career – a feat never before accomplished by a four-year oarsman at Cal and believed to be an accomplishment he shares with only a handful of men (none of whom could be identified) in the history of the sport. Walton’s crews have recorded victories over 200 crews in 35 starts at 23 regattas. He has a frosh and three varsity IRA gold medals.

“We work real hard at Cal and I’ve been fortunate to be a part of this program,” said Walton. “The thing is that it is not about individuals here. We are a team. While my record is the culmination of a personal goal, it was the team that set the record. I just want people to realize that.”

Heading into the CIF State Championship Track & Field Meet on Saturday, St. Mary’s head coach Jay Lawson said everything would have to go perfectly for the his boys to take home a state team championship. With entries in just four final events, the Panthers didn’t have much room for error.

Well, things didn’t go perfectly, and Lawson’s squad ended up in a tie with Cleveland for third place with 18 points despite some heroic performances in the day’s final race. The Panthers finished fourth in both relays, and the school’s two triple jumpers both had foul trouble and finished lower than expected. Arroyo Grande took first placewith 28 points, and Granite Hills second with 25.

The bright spot on the day for the boys was Halihl Guy’s third-place finish in the 300-meter low hurdles, coming in at a school-recond and personal-best 36.26 seconds. Both of the runners who beat Guy, Granite Hills’ Jeff Hunter and J.W. North’s Jeff Garrison, ran times that were in the top five performances in the nation this season.

“I wanted to get first, but I was going up against some elite athletes,” said Guy, who will likely sign with Washington State this week. “I just ran my best. There was nothing else I could do.”

Lawson said he needed to get points from both of his triple jumpers, Asokah Muhammed and Solomon Welch, if the Panthers were to have a chance for the team title. But both jumpers had foul trouble, with Muhammed getting off just three legal jumps and just one from Welch. Muhammed ended up fourth with his best effort of 47-09.25, and Welch finished last among the nine finalists with a jump of 45-08.50, which effectively ended any title hopes.

The St. Mary’s relay team was also a bit of a disappointment, finishing fourth in both the 4x100 and 4x400, but the trouble in those races was an injury to one of the team’s stars. Chris Dunbar pulled his hamstring four weeks ago, and clearly wasn’t 100 percent on Saturday. He gamely went out and ran in both relay races, but his sprints were clearly slow, especially in the 4x400. Running the opening leg, he fell behind the other teams and handed off after 51 seconds, nearly three full seconds slower than his usual 400-meter time. Although Guy, Courtney Brown and Muhammed all ran very fast times, they weren’t able to make up more than three places, finishing in 3:18.27 with Muhammed just beating Santa Margarita to the finish line.

“We would have won if I was healthy, there’s no doubt in my mind,” Dunbar said after the final race. “My teammates all showed up and I didn’t, that’s all there is to it.”

But that’s not how his teammates saw it. They each praised Dunbar for even attempting to race on Saturday when it was obvious that he was hurting.

“Chris poured all his heart into the relays today,” Guy said. “It made me want to run even faster, seeing him giving us everything he had today.”

Despite duplicating last season’s third-place finish at the state meet, the Panthers clearly considered Saturday a disappointment. But Lawson pointed out that a Division IV school finishing third in the state is still very impressive.

“Today was like a roller-coaster ride. We came in with such high expectations, we have to remember that we did very well, and represented our school very well,” he said. “A little school just finished third up here with the big boys.”

Two St. Mary’s girls also finished the season with medal-winning performances. Kamaiya Warren finished third in the shot put with a throw of 44-03.50, and Bridget Duffy came in fourth in the 1,600-meter in 4:56.98. The future looks bright for both juniors, as Duffy was beaten by three seniors and Warren one.

“It’s nice to know that I can come back next year and not have those girls out there,” Duffy said of her older competition. “I was looking to medal, and I did, but it’s hard knowing those girls are a bunch faster.”

Warren said she plans to train harder than ever this summer to have a strong senior year.

“This is going to be a serious summer for me. I’m going to work really hard,” she said. “I want to come out and win both the shot put and discus next year.”

The Zoning Adjustments Board approved a use permit for a proposed development of 71 residential units and 7,200 square feet of commercial space at 1392 University Ave. at Acton Street late last week.

About 30 residents, most opposing the project, crammed into a second floor conference room at 2120 Milvia St. last Thursday to attend a public hearing on the project, according to neighborhood activist Howie Muir.

The City Council gave the land, which was owned by the state, to the developers, for-profit Panoramic Interests and the nonprofit Jubilee Restoration at a May 25, 1999 council meeting in exchange for a minimum of 20 affordable housing units.

The council chose Panoramic Interests and Jubilee Restoration over the nonprofit Affordable Housing Associates despite the fact that Panoramic was proposing a much larger development than what zoning policy allows.

The AHA proposal not only fit within zoning guidelines but was recommended by the Housing Advisory Commission.

The council gave the project to Panoramic and Jubilee by a vote of 6-3 with Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek and Councilmembers Dona Spring and Linda Maio voting no.

Councilmember Dona Spring said the council chose Panoramic and Jubilee because the president, Patrick Kennedy, has an undue amount of influence over the majority of the councilmembers.

“Patrick Kennedy is an expert at getting councilmembers indebted to him,” she said. “He finds their needs and desires and does everything he can to capitalize on them.”

Kennedy is the developer of the downtown Gaia Building and will soon start development of a controversial four-story project at 2700 San Pablo Ave.

Muir said after the ZAB members listened to public comment, most of which decried the size of the development, board member David Blake said the ZAB could do little to alter the size of the development because of a resolution the City Council adopted at the same time it awarded the property to Kennedy.

According to that resolution, the project will include 15, 2-bedroom units for tenants who earn 50 percent of the area median, which for a family of three is $30,400 a year. The other five units will be set aside for earning 80 percent of the area income, which for a family of three is $48,640.

“We gave the developers that land and I just hope were getting our money’s worth of affordable housing out of the deal,” Spring said.

The property was appraised at $1.5 million in 1999.

Spring said she would like to see Kennedy do the right thing and add at least another 15 units of affordable housing to the project.

“If he rents those units out to Section 8 tenants, he’ll be getting market, or close to market, rents,” She said. “And there are so many Section 8 families in Berkeley who can’t use their vouchers because there are so few available units.”

Berkeley’s Commission on Disability met Saturday at North Berkeley Senior Center to ask residents what type of improvements they would like for disabled access.

In particular, commissioners wanted to know if there a particular building, street corner or park in Berkeley that is inaccessible and if there are places a ramp could be erected or a curb cut.

But abysmal public turnout cut the meeting short. Commissioners are hoping that a meeting scheduled for mid-month will be better attended. Commissioner Karen Craig is also pushing for more public notice before the next meeting.

“We don’t know how many people would have shown up. I myself this week talked to some people who had no idea that this meeting was going on, and had other plans and therefore couldn’t come,” Craig said. “If you make the meeting an open forum, not only about the transition plan, [more people may come]. We need people’s input.”

The commissioners are writing the city’s Americans with Disabilities Act Transition Plan, which seeks to remove barriers that prevent people with disabilities from full enjoyment of city programs. They are holding a pair of public hearings so the public can voice specific needs and general concerns relating to the plan.

But Saturday’s public hearing was cut short by commissioners when two residents complained that word of the hearing had not reached far enough.

Ray Dobard was the first to speak in the public comment period.

“Today is a public hearing and workshop concerning disability related discrimination barriers and to promote accessibility of the cities facilities, however, [I think] this alleged public hearing has not been sufficiently and adequately promoted,” Dobard said.

Dobard did, however, commend the underlying concerns that led to the hearing.

“It is an appropriate time to have this commission to ensure that [myself] and all other disabled persons’ viewpoints be heard and considered in a fair and impartial manner,” he said.

Jim Donelson heard about the meeting only by accident.

“I also agree with [Dobard’s comment about] lack of communication. I know there’s a whole lot of people who would like to be at this meeting, but I didn’t even know this commission existed until [yesterday],” he said. “Now I don’t know how to get the word out or what you all have been doing, but I would be more than happy to help you get the word out — that this commission does exist, that they have meetings and that people should and will come and participate in the meetings.”

Eric Dibner, the city disability services specialist who works with the commission, explained that the meeting was advertised through press releases, on the city’s website and through mailings.

Craig agreed with both Dobard and Donelson.

“Considering that I want to hear more from Jim [Donelson] and I want to hear more from the public, I feel that more advertising needs to be done — paid advertising and real outreach if we want to hear the public,” she said. “I’m embarrassed. We have already, as a commission, talked about this and listened to this. This was supposed to be for the public.”

Dibner indicated the kinds of things that meeting will help to decide, and which the public will hopefully contribute.

“The transition plan is the city’s obligation to describe where barriers in buildings will be removed,” Dibner said. “We need to hear from people who are facing barriers in their interactions with the city, so that we know what the important barriers are for the community.”

Commissioners adjourned the meeting two hours early. The second public hearing will take place on Wednesday, June 13 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

To subscribe to the disability services mailing list send an e-mail to edibner@ci.berkeley.ca.us with the subject “Mailing List.”

A number of African-American students at Willard Middle School walked out of a classroom in protest Wednesday after a teacher allegedly used a racial slur, according to sources at the school.

Willard administrators declined to comment on the alleged incident Friday.

Berkeley Associate Superintendent of Administrative Services David Gomez said Friday that he was “aware of the allegations” and had taken “appropriate” action.

The teacher has been suspended from work pending an investigation into possible misconduct, Gomez said.

“Our policy is, as soon as we get a complaint against any of our teachers we separate the teacher from the situation so the district can do an investigation,” Gomez said.

After students accused the teacher of referring to two students as “niggers” Wednesday, Willard Principal Gail Hojo quickly removed the teacher from the classroom, said Lee Berry, a parent volunteer at the school.

But Berry said he was dismayed to find the teacher back on campus Thursday.

“I got so angry my eyes about popped out of my head,” said Berry, an African American.

By Friday, Berry said he was relieved to see the district had taken action.

“What she did was wrong,” Berry said of the teacher’s alleged slur.

But he added: “After getting over my anger and reading statements from about six different kids and reading a statement from (the teacher), I really don’t think she meant anything malicious by it.”

If the teacher did in fact used a racial slur, then the district is warranted in suspending her from work, Willard PTA President Joanie Hamasaki said Friday.

“Berkeley is a diverse city. Every diverse group in Berkeley should be respected,” Hamasaki said. “A teacher should be there to be a friend and mentor (to students).”

Saturday, June 2

Car Seat Safety Clinic

10:00 a.m.

Kittredge St. Parking Garage, second level

The Berkeley Police Department will demonstrate proper techniques for car seat installation and use, and offer safety checks and tips. Families are welcome to visit the Habitot Children’s Museum located across the street from the garage. Free.

Free Sailboat Rides

1 - 4 p.m.

Cal Sailing Club

Berkeley Marina

The Cal Sailing Club, a non-profit sailing and windsurfing cooperative, gives free rides on a first come, first served bases on the first full weekend of each month. Wear warm clothes and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. Children must be at least five years old and must be accompanies by an adult.

www.cal-sailing.org

Berkeley Farmers’ Market

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 548-3333

Family Storytime

10:30 a.m.

Berkeley Main Library

2121 Allston Way

Storyteller Olga Loya tells tales from around the world. Geared for children three to eight and their parents. Free 649-3964

Commission On Disability

Hearings

1 - 4 p.m.

North Berkeley Senior Center

1901 Hearst St.

Open forum, opportunity for public to present ideas and concerns about barriers for people with disabilities and accessibility of City facilities. Public comment on Berkeley’s proposed “Americans with Disabilities Act Transition Plan.” Will continue on June 13.

981-6342

Longfellow Middle School’s

Outdoor Arts Festival

Noon - 4 p.m.

Longfellow Courtyard

1500 Derby St.

Live music performances, silent auction of student and community art, BBQ and bake sale. Talent showcase and awards ceremony from 2 - 3 p.m. Free admission, open to the public. 665-1980

Birdwatching Walk

and Breakfast

8 a.m.

Botanical Garden

200 Centennial Drive

This is the time of year when the greatest variety of birds can be found in the Garden, including some rare species. Join Chris Carmichael and Dennis Wolff for breakfast and a walk. $25, limited space, call to reserve.

The City of Berkeley Planning Commission Subcommittee is holding a workshop to discuss the proposed uses and design for the Oxford Street parking lot.

981-5400

Sunday, June 3

Rosa Parks Spring

Celebration and Fund-raiser

Noon - 4 p.m.

Rosa Parks

920 Allston Way

Silent auction, quilt raffle, cake walk and field events. 644-8812

Music and Meditation

8 - 9 p.m.

The Heart-Road Traveller

1828 Euclid Ave.

Group meditation though instrumental music and devotional songs. Led by Lucian Balmer and Baoul Scavullo. Free. 496-3468

Free Sailboat Rides

1 - 4 p.m.

Cal Sailing Club

Berkeley Marina

The Cal Sailing Club,gives free rides on a first come, first served bases on the first full weekend of each month. Wear warm clothes and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. Children must be at least five years old and must be accompanies by an adult.

www.cal-sailing.org

Hands-on Bicycle

Repair Clinics

11 a.m. - Noon

Recreational Equipment, Inc.

1338 San Pablo Ave.

Learn how to adjust front and rear derailleurs from one of REI’s bike technicians. All you need to bring is your bike. Free 527-4140

Healing Through

Tibetan Yoga

6 p.m.

Tibetan Nyingma Institute

1815 Highland Place

Slow movements of Kum Nye encourage self-healing and deeper spiritual dimensions in experience. Demonstrated and discussed by Jack van der Meulen. Free and open to the public. 843-6812

Family Day at Magnes

Museum

12:30 - 3 p.m.

2911 Russell St.

A celebration of cultural heritage, the day is co-sponsored by the San Francisco African American Historical and Cultural Society. Free admission.www.magnesmuseum.org

Dedication of TROTH

2 - 4:30 p.m.

Northside Community Art Garden

On Northside St. 1 block N. of Hopkins

TROTH, a special earth wall toolshed and product of nearly 3 years of volunteer labor, will be dedicated today. Potluck meal and words from gardeners, City representatives and BART.

841-3757

— compiled by

Sabrina Forkish

China Forum

2 p.m.

Moffitt Building 101

UC Berkeley

Wu JiaXiang, social/political critic and writer, talks about the Tiananmen paper and the June 4 massacre. Free.

Monday, June 4

“Boys Will Be Men”

6:45 p.m.

Longfellow Theater

1500 Derby St.

Special Father’s Day showing of the acclaimed documentary for Berkeley teen’s and their families. Introduced by Tom Weidlinger, followed by audience discussion. Free.

849-2683

www.berkeleypta.org

Rent Stabilization Board Meeting

7 p.m.

2134 MLK Jr. Way

Council Chambers, 2nd floor

Among other items, the board will hear the appeal by both the tenants and the landlord of 2223 and 2227 Bonar Street of the decision of the hearing examiner.

644-6128

Tuesday, June 5

Berkeley Camera Club

7:30 p.m.

Northbrae Community Church

941 The Alameda

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips.

Call Wade, 531-8664

Berkeley Farmers’ Market

2 - 7 p.m.

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street

548-3333

Young Queer Women’s Group

8 - 9:30 p.m.

Pacific Center

2712 Telegraph Ave.

Make some new friends, expand your horizons and get support with a bunch of queer women all in the same place at the same time (somewhere between 18 and 25).

548-8283 or visit www.pacificcenter.org

Intelligent Conversation

7 - 9 p.m.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center

A discussion group open to all, regardless of age, religion, viewpoint, etc. This time the discussion topic is open and will follow the conversation. Informally led by Robert Berend, who founded similar groups in L.A., Menlo Park, and Prague. Bring light snacks/drinks to share. Free

527-5332

Bike for a Better City Action Meeting

6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

1356 Rose St.

www.bfbc.org

Wednesday, June 6

Fishbowl: “Everything you always wanted to know about the opposite sex but were afraid to ask”

7 p.m.. to 9 p.m.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center

1414 Walnut St.

Find out what the other half really thinks! The Fishbowl is an interesting way to anonymously ask those burning questions. $8 for BRJCC members, $10 for general public. 848-0237 x127.

South Berkeley Community Action Team

Advisory Group Meeting

7 p.m.

Over 60’s Clinic

3260 Sacramento, 2nd Floor

All South and West Berkeley residents invited to the regular meeting. Among other agenda items, the planning of upcoming Town Hall meeting. Refreshments provided.

Almost a decade has elapsed since a small group of West Berkeley residents living around the city’s Corporation Yard came together to protest the impacts of the vehicle maintenance facility on the community. This public outcry was directed towards the maintenance facility’s traffic, fueling station, and the almost complete absence of any environmental protections.

Topping the list of community concerns were issues of air quality, chemicals and hazardous waste storage, and storm water pollution controls. Public Works argued that management was actually environmentally pro-active and blamed the

operational impacts on the rundown eighty-year old facility. However, local residents found out firsthand that the facility’s age was just part of the problem.

In April 1992, while on a tour of the facility, the community witnessed a street sweeper illegally dumping the liquid portion of its street collection into the Yard’s storm drain, a clear violation of the Clean Water Act. This public incident, though quite embarrassing for city staff, reinforced the neighborhood’s contention that the time had come for changes in both the facility and its municipal maintenance activities.

Over the next several years, Public Works met regularly with the neighbors to address the operations of the vehicle facility. However, few changes actually occurred. Residents should have realized early on in the community process that the Yard meetings were being used to silence public discussion.

Neighborhood involvement was reduced to little more than a series of public relations meetings while Public Works waited politely for residents to talk themselves out and go away. And so they did, but the environmental compliance problems remained.

The 1992 sweeper dumping incident also revealed to the community that such Corporation Yard activities require a Federal discharge permit. Moreover, Berkeley was, and is, a member of Alameda County’s storm water program. One of the program’s central components is that of municipal maintenance activities and best management practices for environmental protection. The county program responded by both reprimanding Berkeley and encouraging the city to move forward in modernizing its maintenance operations. The choice, since that time, has been Berkeley’s.

Unfortunately, the city’s choice, like other county storm water members, has been to view this area of capital improvement as a very low priority. This has only reinforced public criticism that the county’s storm water program amounts to little more than revenue enhancement for the city.

Two weeks ago, the Corporation Yard was cited for polluting the storm drains in the Yard. The Notice of Violation made public the fact that there had been prior notices for corrective actions dating as far back as 1995. The citation, written on a rainy day, was linked directly to the antiquated and inadequate protection and containment of sand, asphalt, hazardous wastes, equipment and contaminated soils on site. It should be noted that the Yard’s EBMUD discharge permit is currently out of compliance for this same reason. From a management perspective, this long-term Public Works failure to comply with environmental regulations is outrageous.

Last November, Berkeley’s Public Works celebrated being the first city in the state to receive an accreditation for excellence by the Public Works Association. It’s not surprising that the accreditation team, as it toured the Corp Yard, apparently overlooked these obvious shortcomings. It should be remembered that environmental protection is a relatively new mandate for Public Works activities here and across the nation. The time has come to fully capitalize an upgrade of Corp Yard activities and storage areas. Let’s do it right. Being responsive to environmental protection and compliance requires real commitment and cash. It’s really not an option. Today, it’s the law!

L A Wood

Berkeley

Don’t build parking under Civic Center

Editor:

Mayor Dean’s proposal to put underground parking beneath Civic Center Park at Martin Luther King Jr. Way is a bad idea that will increase congestion, waste taxpayer money and damage the environment. Claiming the scarcity of downtown parking justifies the proposal, the mayor implies that those opposing the idea are acting punitively toward drivers. Although I drive and would welcome additional parking I oppose the mayor’s proposal. During construction the project will decrease the availability of parking, increase traffic congestion, disrupt the Farmers Market, destroy trees, reduce access to the park, increase noise levels, and pollute the air with diesel exhaust and particulate matter.

Construction is the problem, not the solution. Excessive downtown construction has eliminated dozens of parking spaces. Parking and access to several businesses, are suffering as a result the library retrofit and Gaia project. When completed new construction seems to shrink available parking. This was the the case when the mayor and City Council voted to spend a quarter million dollars on downtown “improvements,” that destroyed dozens of trees and added concrete “bulbs”, which eliminated parking spots on University Avenue.

While an underground garage would add some parking to the downtown area we need to ask at what price. How much would it cost taxpayers? How many trees would be destroyed? What impact would it have on the Farmers Market? What effects would trucks, bulldozers, cranes, jack hammers and tons of building materials have on noise levels and the environment? What effect would the garage have on the park above? Trees, plants and grass that are sustained through contact with the earth would instead be planted atop a concrete structure that would permeate the soil with fumes from auto exhaust. How would this pollution affect the health of young children that play in the park? What type of vision is this for a park that sits aside a Farmers Market, and is the annual staging area for Earth Day festivities and dozens of other celebrations?

The solution to scarce parking is not to hide the problem underground. In the immediate future a moratorium on excessive downtown construction would preserve precious parking space. Construction blocks visibility and access, causing retail stores and restaurants to loose business. Berkeley should create a system of frequent shuttle busses to major shopping areas. The City Council should work with BART and AC transit to give proof of mass transit travel, and encourage merchants to provide private incentives to people who bicycle or utilize mass transit. Dedicate one street for the exclusive use by bicycles.

Long term solutions such as the creation of a City-wide AC transit pass are an excellent idea. But the Council must wake up to the reality that AC transit provides deplorable service. Simply stated, if buses ran frequently and served commuters well, fewer people would be using automobiles.

The Council should also place a bond measure on the ballot to build a comprehensive Berkeley-wide light rail system. By raising funds to go it alone Berkeley may prod AC transit into acting on the long talked about plans to create a regional light rail system.

For too long drivers in this City have been pawns in a political game that reduces the availability of parking. Those who favor development use driver frustration to gain support to create parking facilities.

Those who oppose automobiles think punishing drivers by reducing parking will force them to abandon their cars.

Both approaches have failed miserably. Long term planning that reduces the need for automobiles, rather then quick fixes like building more parking, or punishing drivers by making it difficult to park, is what’s needed to reduce automobile traffic in the City of Berkeley.

Judah L. Magnes Museum “Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season” through May 2002. An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. 2911 Russell St. 549-6950

The Asian Galleries “Art of the Sung: Court and Monastery.” A display of early Chinese works from the permanent collection. “Chinese Ceramics and Bronzes: The First 3,000 Years,” open-ended. “Works on Extended Loan from Warren King,” open-ended. “Three Towers of Han,” open-ended. $6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 642-0808

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 by 40-foot replica of the fearsome dinosaur made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. When unearthed in Montana, the bones were all lying in place with only a small piece of the tailbone missing. “Pteranodon” A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22-23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. Free. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology “Approaching a Century of Anthropology: The Phoebe Hearst Museum,” open-ended. This new permanent installation will introduce visitors to major topics in the museum’s history. “Ishi and the Invention of Yahi Culture,” ongoing. This exhibit documents the culture of the Yahi Indians of California as described and demonstrated from 1911 to 1916 by Ishi, the last surviving member of the tribe. $2 general; $1 seniors; $.50 children age 17 and under; free on Thursdays. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way and College Ave. 643-7648

Holt Planetarium Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. “Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18; $3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu

The Berkeley TEMPO Festival of Contemporary Performances All performances begin at 8 p.m. June 2: Roscoe Mitchell with George Lewis, David Wessel and Thomas Buckner; June 5: Music of Edmund Campion with dancers; June 6: Shafqat Ali Khan, Pakistani Khyal vocals with David Wessel and Matthew Wright; June 8: Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players; June 9: John Scott, John Abercrombie, George Marsh, Rich Fudoli, Mel Graves. $15 Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Campus www.tempofestival.org

Empyrean Ensemble June 2, 8 p.m. Final concert of the season, featuring soprano Susan Narucki in the world premiere of Mario Davidovsky’s “Cantiones Sine Textu,” as well as works by other composers. 7 p.m. panel discussion with the composers. $14 - $18 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave 925-798-1300

Schubert Festival June 3, 4 p.m. Mini-Schubert Festival as part of the Sundays at Four Chamber Music series. Will feature Schubert’s Trout Quintet, String Trio, and more. $10 Crowden School 1475 Rose St. 559-6910 www.thecrowdenschool.org

“Big Love” by Charles L. Mee Through June 10 Directed by Les Waters and loosely based on the Greek Drama, “The Suppliant Woman,” by Aeschylus. Fifty brides who are being forced to marry fifty brothers flee to a peaceful villa on the Italian coast in search of sanctuary. $15.99 - $51 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2025 Addison St. 647-2949

“The Laramie Project” Through July 8, Wed. 7 p.m., Tues. and Thur. -Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Written by Moises Kaufmen and members of Tectonic Theater Project, directed by Moises Kaufman. Moises Kaufman and Tectonic members traveled to Laramie, Wyo., after the murder of openly gay student Matthew Shepherd. The play is about the community and the impact Shaper’s death had on its members. $10 - $50. The Roda Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org

“A Life In the Theatre” Previews June 8, 9, 10, 13. Opens June 14, runs through July 15. Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. David Mamet play about the lives of two actors, considered a metaphor for life itself. Directed by Nancy Carlin. $30-$35. $26 preview nights. Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant 843-4822

Films

Pacific Film Archive June 2, 7:00: A River Called Trash; June 3, 5:30: Ruslan and Ludmila; June 5, 7:30: From the East; June 6, 7:30: Prank and Parody; June 7, 7:00: Viy; June 8, 7:30: Aerograd; June 8, 9:15: The Letter That Was Never Sent; June 9, 7:30: Comic and Avant-Garde Shorts; June 10, 5:30: Pitfall, 7:25: Woman In the Dunes. Pacific Film Archive Theater 2575 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch) 642-1412

“Elements of Art” June 2, 4 - 6 p.m. Youth Arts Studio, an art show and reception exhibiting the work of 15 Berkeley Middle School Fine Art Students. Free. All Souls Episcopal Church 2220 Cedar St. 848-1755

Bernard Maisner: Illuminated Manuscripts and Paintings. Through Aug. 8 Maisner works in miniature as well as in large scales, combining his mastery of medieval illumination, gold leafing, and modern painting techniques. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 2400 Ridge Rd. 849-2541

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tours All tours begin at 10 a.m. and are restricted to 30 people per tour $5 - $10 per tour. June 2: Trish Hawthorne will lead a tour of Thousand Oaks School and Neighborhood; June 23: Sue Fernstrom will lead a tour of Strawberry Creek and West of the UC Berkeley campus 848-0181

What was supposed to be the culmination of Halihl Guy’s high school track career nearly went down in flames Friday night at the CIF State Championship Meet qualifiers, but everything turned out fine in the end.

Guy’s first event at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento was the 4x100-meter relay, in which the Panthers held the third-best time in the state this season. St. Mary’s main concern was the health of relay member Chris Dunbar, who hadn’t run in a meet for three weeks while nursing a hamstring pull. Dunbar ran well, if tentatively, and the Panthers qualified for Saturday’s final in 41.65 seconds, a fifth-best in the meet. That time is .45 seconds slower than the team’s best time, and Dunbar said he ran at about 85 percent after his hamstring bothered him late in his second leg of the race.

“I got out pretty good, but I tightened up in the last 20 meters,” Dunbar said. “But it was OK for my first time going full-speed for three weeks.”

St. Mary’s head coach Jay Lawson decided to hold Dunbar out of the 4x400-meter relay on Friday to rest the injury, but Dunbar said he would “run both races tomorrow, definitely.”

Although the Panthers finished fifth in the preliminaries, the second through fifth places were all within .1 of a second of each other. If Dunbar can let it fly today, the Panthers could take home the gold. Their main competition appears to be Granite Hills, which flew through their heat to a time of 41.16 seconds, the best time in the state this season. Taft, whose mark Granite Hills broke on Friday, had baton trouble and failed to qualify for the final.

Guy’s next event was his weakest, the 110-meter high hurdles. Although his coaches didn’t expect him to finish in the top nine places to qualify for Saturday’s final, Guy was out to prove a point after winning the North Coast Section title with a personal best last weekend. Guy was a little too pumped up, however, and false started during his heat, disqualifying himself.

Guy’s best event is the 300-meter low hurdles, and he quickly took the lead in his heat. But he again made a big mistake, hitting the last hurdle with his lead leg. Guy stumbled, barely managing to stay in his lane across the finish line. His stagger caused two more runners to crash into each other, causing a pileup at the finish line.

“I don’t know what went wrong for Halihl in that race,” Lawson said. “I guess he just didn’t drive hard enough over that last hurdle. I don’t need that kind of stress.”

The Panthers hopes for a boys’ team title is still alive going into the finals despite Guy’s errors. Triple jumpers Asokah Muhammed and Solomon Welch both qualified for today’s competition, with Muhammed jumping 48-10, a personal best.

“There are a bunch of teams still in the mix, and it’s all about who’s still alive on Saturday,” Lawson said. “We definitely accomplished what we needed to today.” Also qualifying for Saturday’s finals were two St. Mary’s girls. Kamaiya Warren had the second longest throw to qualify in the shot put, and Bridget Duffy finished third in her heat of the 1,600-meter race with a time of 5:00.39.

Warren’s best throw on Friday was 44-06.75, but she came in a distant second to San Luis Obispo’s Karen Freburg by more than six feet. Freburg has come close to breaking the national prep record in the event several times, and barring a rash of fouls on Saturday should take the state title easily. But Warren said she doesn’t get discouraged finishing so far behind Freburg.

“My thing is to chase after her,” Warren said. “I know that the closer I get to her, the better I am. Besides, you never know what can happen.”

The Berkeley High girls’ relay team will be the school’s lone representative today, finishing in seventh place with a time of 47.67 seconds. The St. Mary’s team finished eleventh in the event.

Berkeley High’s surprise entrant on Friday, North Coast Section 400-meter champion Stephon Brooks, got a rude awakening at the state meet. Brooks finished dead last in his heat. But Brooks is just a sophomore this year, so you can expect to see him again.

The results for the 4x400-meter relays and girls triple jump, both of which had Berkeley entrants, were unavailable at press time.

The Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville chapter of the League of Women Voters joined forces last year with Californians for Justice, Coleman Advocates for Youth and Families and other organizations to fight against Proposition 21, the Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Prevention Act.

The League is concerned with the effects of Proposition 21, and on Thursday night, more than a year after the proposition passed, 60 members of the chapter came out for the group’s annual meeting to learn about juvenile justice in the post-Proposition 21 era.

“We’re very much concerned with youth and youth at risk. Our positions point to wanting to help teenagers and younger children get back on the right track,” said Jo Ann Price, president of the League of Women Voters’ local chapter. That concern led the chapter to invite Alameda County Juvenile Court Presiding Judge Brenda Harbin-Forte to address the group’s annual meeting at the Northbrae Community Church.

According to Harbin-Forte, Alameda County has seen only four or five cases in which the district attorney referred a young person to adult court to be tried, as Proposition 21 allows.

Proposition 21 increased the number of circumstances under which a juvenile offender can be sent directly to the adult court system; eliminated discretion in juvenile sentencing and increased the penalties for youth convicted of certain offenses.

Harbin-Forte said she believes the juvenile justice system needs reform, including more prevention programs for young people and rectification of the problem of the over-representation of youth of color in the system. She encouraged the League of Women Voter members to become involved with children in the juvenile justice system by becoming court-appointed children’s advocates.

Although the local chapter of the League of Women Voters voted at the Thursday night meeting to continue to support juvenile justice policies which “promote services to meet the needs of Alameda county youth and minimize delinquency,” it has no plans to take any action to demand reforms in the juvenile justice system.

Its priorities for the next year are education (specifically, closing the achievement gap), the completion of the Berkeley General Plan, and housing in Albany, Berkeley and Emeryville.

The state League of Women Voters, on the other hand, is a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Proposition 21. Along with Coleman Advocates and Peter Bull of the Youth Law Center, the state League has filed a lawsuit contending that the proposition addressed three issues: juvenile court, gangs, and three strikes legislation. According to the California Constitution, an initiative may only address a single subject. The case is on hold while other cases challenging Proposition 21 are considered by the California Supreme Court.

The Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville chapter of the League of Women Voters has 400 members, the third largest in California and is “very energetic,” says one member who’s been involved with League chapters throughout the state.

Its decision making process is slow but thorough. Before deciding to take action on an issue, a chapter studies the question for two years. Then its actions are usually limited to lobbying for legislation or filing a lawsuit on concerns ranging from campaign finance reform to energy deregulation. For more information or to become a member, call the chapter office at 843-8824.

To kick start the use of alternative energy in residences, the mayor will ask the City Council on Tuesday to consider fast-tracking the city’s permit process and waiving fees for those who install solar devices.

If approved, the city manager will work with the Planning and Development Department to determine the best way to speed up the permit process.

“I thought we’d better get this on the agenda, because I want to make sure we are on the fast track on these issues,” said Mayor Shirley Dean.

Dean made energy conservation a priority during her State of the City speech on May 1. She has been a strong advocate of recent technological developments in photovotaic power, a form of solar power that turns the sun’s energy into electricity.

Photovotaic panels can be installed in homes and apartments for about $10,000 per unit, according to a report from the mayor’s office. That cost can be offset by two state rebate programs, which can reduce the cost to as low as $3,000, according to the report.

In addition, Pacific Gas & Electricity is offering a program that will hook photovotaic-equipped residences up to the power grid thereby allowing them to sell excess energy produced by the panels back to the utility.

Dean said she is meeting with local banks to see if they will offer low-interest loans to homeowners who install the systems.

At the People’s State of the City Address on Tuesday, Councilmember Dona Spring proposed a bond measure that would raise funds to pay for all homes and apartments to be equipped with photovotaic systems at no cost to the property owner.

Planning and Development Interim Deputy Director Vivian Kahn said she had not seen the mayor’s recommendation and could not comment on any specifics, but she said Oakland’s Planning Department had adopted a similar program.

“Streamlining the process could take amending the zoning ordinance and adopting a new fee schedule to waive application fees,” she said.

On other energy fronts, Dean said she has been meeting with the 14 Alameda County mayors to discuss an effective way to influence the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is responsible for setting “just and reasonable” energy rates for gas and electricity. The commission has not set a rate cap on the wholesale price of natural gas or electricity despite skyrocketing rates set by energy wholesalers.

In Dean’s written recommendation, she states that California paid 28 cents for 1 million Btus of natural gas in 1998. Within two years that price has soared to $8.14.

“We’re quite serious about this and have not ruled out a possible Mayors’ March on Washington to get FERC’s attention,” Dean said. “This is a bipartisan issue in the county and state, lights go out for Republicans the same way they do Democrats.”

The issue will be considered by the council on June 5. The “special” meeting is scheduled to start at 5:15 p.m. with public comment. Then the council will go into closed session to discuss two issues. It will then recess to open session again to consider the energy recommendation.

The council will convene a second meeting at 7 p.m. to hold a public hearing on the Temple Beth El project at 1301 Oxford St. The meetings will take place in Old City Hall at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

The Thousand Oaks district of north Berkeley was subdivided in 1909 by John Spring (1862-1933) a local capitalist who was involved in much of the land speculation in Berkeley, Albany and El Cerrito around the turn of the 20th century. He was associated with Francis Marion “Borax” Smith (who assembled the Key System electric streetcar line), Duncan McDuffie, Louis Titus and Frank Haven.

The expansion of public transportation through the North Berkeley Tunnel and down Solano Avenue in 1911 made it possible to live several miles from the center of town.

This location was known for its rock formations and spreading oaks interspersed with grassy glades. It was a favorite place for walking and picnics. Because of its beauty a bond measure was proposed to set aside 100 acres for a public park but the measure failed. Perhaps, as this picture shows, there was so much open space the need to fund parks seemed unnecessary. While there is a wide diversity of style and size of homes in this neighborhood, the rock outcroppings are a distinctive feature of Thousand Oaks. There is a large rock behind this house, (on the left side of the picture). Many houses on Vicente Road (above Colusa Avenue) have large rocks in their front gardens and some houses are even built on top of the rocks. The house was designed by James W. Placheck a prolific Berkeley architect. He designed many buildings including the Main Branch of the Berkeley Public Library.

Teacher, community activist, union leader, lobbyist, organizer, advocate and mother of 11, Dolores Huerta has won many awards and public recognition for her dedication to farm workers’ rights, women’s rights and the environment.

She will be honored for her work June 9 at La Peña Cultural Center’s 26th anniversary.

In 1955, Huerta began work as a grassroots organizer with the Community Service Organization. Seven years later, in Delano she met Cesar Chavez, with whom she created the National Farmworkers Association, a precursor to the United Farm Workers.

The event, which costs $20, will help defray some of Huerta’s recent medical expenses.

Wosene Kosrof, an Ethiopian-born artist who lives in Berkeley, has donated a painting to the Berkeley YMCA. The piece will be sold at a silent auction and all proceeds will benefit youth at the YMCA. Kosrof’s work explores the aesthetic dimensions of Amharic, one of the major languages of Ethiopia.

The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art, the Rockefeller collection, the United Nations and many others have Kosrof in their collections. The YMCA is hosting an art gathering in the Crystal Room of the Shattuck Hotel at 8:30 p.m. on June 13 where Kosrof will exhibit and discuss his paintings and the YMCA piece will be up for auction. The Shattuck Hotel is at 2086 Allston Way. Admission is free.

Groundbreaking celebration for Computer Technologies Program

The Computer Technologies Program will be celebrating the groundbreaking of its new facilities in the ARTech building at 2101 Milvia at 9 a.m. on Tuesday.

The ceremony represents the culmination of the three year project by CTP and Panoramic Interests to create a multi-use building in downtown Berkeley.

The CTP, a nonprofit organization that provides computer job training to students with disabilities, will occupy the entire second floor of the new building, almost tripling the size of its facilities. A cafe will occupy the ground floor and 20 housing units will comprise the top three stories. The outside of the building will feature works of several local artists and include a wrought iron gate, tile murals and mosaic benches.

HAYWARD — An unemployed crime lab technician has been found guilty on all 11 counts, including attempted murder, for planting bombs under the homes of Fremont’s police chief and other city officials.

The verdict, reached Thursday but read in Alameda County Superior Court early Friday, followed a week of deliberations and months of testimony in the case.

Rodney Blach, 54, has said federally trained agents carried out the six bombings, and that he was being framed.

His lawyer, William Linehan, argued the case was largely circumstantial, relying only on Blach’s motive and opportunity. He said he was disappointed with the verdict and would ask for a new trial.

The six bombs were planted during a 48-hour period in March 1998.

The first one ripped a 10-foot hole in the roof of police Chief Craig Steckler’s home and set the front porch on fire. The same afternoon, City Councilman Bob Wasserman, Steckler’s predecessor as police chief, found an explosive in a brown paper bag on his front walk. Authorities defused that bomb.

Two pipe bombs damaged newly constructed homes and another explosive went off at a water tank. Police detonated a sixth bomb.

No one was injured.

Blach, who was a chemical engineer with the Chicago Police Department crime lab from 1974 to 1979, taunted investigators and seemed to savor his role as a suspect during the 18-month investigation.

He said he planted keys in his San Diego home and taped notes with clues beneath his desk and a shaving cream can to see if investigators could find them. He lived in the Fremont neighborhood where he planted the bombs, but moved to San Diego after he became a suspect.

Blach, who had no prior criminal record, has been described by acquaintances as a conspiracy theorist. According to grand jury testimony, he planted a pair of time-delayed pipe bombs under a Fremont home because he thought it was going to be bought by a prominent family he considered to be the “Afghan Mafia.”

The less potent explosives at the homes of the police chief and city councilman were diversions, according to court records.

However, the family neither bought the house nor moved in. When the bombs did detonate in March 1998, a girl from a different family that had purchased the residence was shaken but not injured. Investigators believe Blach could face life in prison.

SAN FRANCISCO — Hank Ketcham, whose lovable scamp “Dennis the Menace” tormented cranky Mr. Wilson and amused readers of comics for decades, died early Friday morning at age 81.

Ketcham had suffered from heart disease and cancer, said his publicist, Linda Dozoretz.

“He passed away very peacefully. He had had some bad spells and he slipped away in his sleep,” said Ellen James, a neighbor and family friend.

Ketcham stopped drawing the weekday strip at the end of 1994 but let it continue under a team of artists and writers.

Inspired by the antics of his 4-year-old son, Ketcham began the strip in 1951. In March, Ketcham’s panels celebrated 50 years of publication — running in 1,000 newspapers, 48 countries and 19 languages.

“It just took my breath away,” said Brian Walker, who writes “Hi and Lois” with his brother, Greg. “Like the rest of the cartoonists in his generation, he died with his boots on. He may have said he was retired, but he was still working.”

Despite its longevity, the strip changed little since the 1950s. Dennis was always a freckle-faced “five-ana-half” — an appealing if aggravating mixture of impishness and innocence.

“Mischief just seems to follow wherever Dennis appears, but it is the product of good intentions, misdirected helpfulness, goodhearted generosity, and, possibly, an overactive thyroid,” Ketcham wrote in his 1990 autobiography, “The Merchant of Dennis The Menace.”

“But what a dull world it would be without any Dennises in it! Peaceful, maybe — but dull,” he said.

Dennis also inspired several books of cartoons, a musical, a television series, a 1993 movie and a playground in Monterey, not far from Ketcham’s studio in Pebble Beach.

“It’s a joyful pursuit realizing that you’re trying to ease the pain of front-page news or television,” Ketcham told The Associated Press in a March interview. There’s some little bright spot in your day that reminds you that it’s fun to smile.”

A Seattle native, Henry “Hank” Ketcham dropped out the University of Washington in 1938 after his freshman year to pursue his childhood dream. He got his first job as an animator for Walter Lantz, the creator of “Woody Woodpecker,” and then for Walt Disney, working on “Pinocchio,” “Bambi,” “Fantasia” and others.

He was pulled away to Washington D.C. by the Navy during World War II where he drew cartoons for military posters, training material and war bond sales. He then moved to Carmel as a freelance cartoonist.

It was there in October 1950 that Ketcham’s first wife, Alice, burst into his studio exasperated after their 4-year-old son, Dennis, destroyed his bedroom instead of napping.

“Your son is a menace!” she screamed.

Just five months later on March 12, 1951, “Dennis the Menace” was born in 16 newspapers. Ketcham couldn’t believe the audience his blond, freckle-faced boy in droopy overalls attracted.

“I’m not a big social butterfly. I don’t worry about people out there and what they feel about it,” Ketcham said. “I don’t even realize there are people looking at it and following it so closely until I’ve traveled and then I realize, ’Holy smokes how come everybody knows about Dennis?”’

One of those times came during his first trip abroad in 1959. He had set up a humor exchange with the Soviet Union to swap Dennis drawings out for Soviet-sketched cartoons during the Cold War.

When the CIA got wind of his plans, they asked him to take snapshots with a spy camera and draw anything that might be useful to intelligence.

“We were flying from Moscow to Kiev, and it was during the day and I looked out the window and I saw some shapes. Big circles and long rectangular shapes,” he said. “I had my sketch book and I would put them down and the flight attendant would walk by and I would put a big nose and some eyes and make the whole thing into a funny face. So I had a whole book full of funny-face cartoons at the end that I didn’t know how to read.”

Sometime later, Ketcham met a CIA official and mentioned his days behind the Iron Curtain.

Ketcham said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t have anything to report. He said, ’Yeah, I know, Hank, we haven’t sent any more cartoonists on any more missions.”’

Ketcham stayed in Europe, drawing Dennis from Geneva, Switzerland for nearly 20 years. He took the real-life Dennis, then 12, with him after the boy’s mother died of a drug overdose in 1959. But when Dennis struggled with his studies there, he was sent to boarding school in Connecticut. Ketcham and his second wife, Jo Anne Stevens, remained in Europe.

Dennis went on to serve a 10-month tour of duty in Vietnam and returned suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. He has little contact with his father today. Still, he’s kept “Dennis the Menace” books, dolls and other cartoon paraphernalia displayed at his house.

“He’s living in the East somewhere doing his own thing,” Ketcham said in March. “That’s just a chapter that was a short one that closed, which unfortunately happens in some families.”

Ketcham moved back to California in 1977 with his third wife, Rolande and their two children, Scott and Dania, and drew the comic from his home along scenic 17 Mile Drive.

Unlike “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz, who insisted on drawing every panel himself and had a clause in his contract dictating that original drawings would end with his death, Ketcham stopped drawing Sunday panels in the mid-1980s.

and retired from weekday sketches in 1994. Ketcham’s assistants, Marcus Hamilton and Ronald Ferdinand, handled the bulk of the work after that with Ketcham overseeing the feature daily by fax. The team will continue the panels despite his death.

“People used to ask me, ’What will happen when Mr. Ketcham isn’t still around?”’ Hamilton said. “He never directly told me this, but I think he was trying to say, ’Pay attention to how I train you because someday you may have to train someone else.”’

After putting down his pencil, Ketcham grabbed a brush and began a decade of painting oils and watercolors of jazz musicians, dark portraits of women’s faces, cartoonists and golf scenes. He even painted the birthing center at a hospital in Monterey, which worked as physical and mental therapy after his own stint in the hospital.

But even as a cartoonist, Ketcham is remembered as one of the master artists.

“One thing about Hank that I feel, he is the best pen and ink line artist in America today,” said Bil Keane, who created “Family Circus,” syndicated since 1960. “He still is a brilliant technician when it comes to drawing the lines that make his cartoons so beautifully artistic.”

Brian Walker, the son of “Beetle Bailey” and “Hi and Lois” creator Mort Walker, put together a 50th anniversary “Dennis the Menace” exhibit at the International Museum of Cartoon Art in Boca Raton, Fla., which opened Saturday and runs through Aug. 26.

Ketcham’s son Scott attended the opening and called Ketcham frequently with feedback from the tribute, Walker said.

“That’s so wonderful for Hank Ketcham ... that he knew he was being honored by his peers,” said Jan Eliot, who draws “Stone Soup” and once asked Ketcham for guidance on her work. “I admired his drawing very much. His humor was of another generation, and it’s the generation that we’re losing now.”

The comic will likely live on for years without Ketcham.

“It’s just classic. The material as well as the art is well done,” Jim Davis, who created “Garfield,” said in March. “You can relax and just enjoy the feature. You know you’re in good hands when you’re reading something as classic as Dennis.”

Ketcham is survived by his wife, Rolande; his daughter, Dania Ketcham and his two sons, Scott and Dennis Ketcham.

CARRYING THE LEGACY

SAN FRANCISCO — As Marcus Hamilton waited Friday for workers to fix his fax machine that had been struck by lightning while he was away at the National Cartoonist Society awards, he got a call saying cartoonist Hank Ketcham had died.

Hamilton began drawing “Dennis the Menace” for Ketcham in 1994. He was trying to fax his latest sketches of America’s favorite 5-year-old towheaded tornado for Ketcham’s final approval.

“Today was very sad,” said Hamilton, who will continue drawing the weekday 50-year old comic panel. “He’s really been like a second father to me. He’s directed my life for the last eight years.”

But Hamilton said Ketcham passed on a high note. His lifetime of cartooning was honored at the International Museum of Cartoon Art in Boca Raton where a 50th anniversary “Dennis the Menace” exhibit will be displayed through Aug. 26.

“I was honored to work on this tribute, and I’m glad we successfully completed it and that Hank knew what a success it was,” said Brian Walker, the son of “Beetle Bailey” and “Hi and Lois” creator Mort Walker, who assembled the display.

Hamilton said he is now proud to continue the comic with Ronald Ferdinand, who began drawing the Sunday panels in the mid-1980s.

Hamilton considers it pure luck that he received that honor. He said his career with Ketcham began after he saw the veteran cartoonist on television promoting a “Dennis The Menace” film in 1993. Ketcham said he would like more time to play golf, paint and travel, and Hamilton picked up the phone, seeing a job opportunity.

“This is his little boy that he’s trained me to draw,” Hamilton said. “I am still flabbergasted that this has all occurred.”

On Wednesday evening, Hamilton said Ketcham sent his last e-mail, which Hamilton printed for future inspiration.

It read: ”... This if of course a continued training exercise to sharpen your talents and prepare you for producing Dennis all on your own.”

“I think he must have had an inkling of an idea that his time was growing short,” Hamilton said. “He was such a teacher.”

REDLANDS — A first-grade teacher died suddenly from meningococcal disease but her students were at little risk of contracting the bacterial infection, officials said Friday.

Barbara Schroeder, 54, of Redlands, died at 3 a.m. Thursday, about 12 hours after arriving at Redlands Community Hospital, spokeswoman Jane Dreher said.

The mother of three taught at McKinley Elementary School. On Friday, flags flew at half-staff and counselors were on campus to help children deal with the shock of losing their teacher overnight, said Ken Tolar, a spokesman for Redlands Unified School District.

Classes continued with a substitute teacher. Youngsters at the school 70 miles east of Los Angeles put up a poster with hand-painted red hearts and the message: “McKinley rules! Mrs. Schroeder was the best!”

On Thursday, the school sent letters home with all 400 of its students to notify parents of Schroeder’s death. Included was public health material on meningococcal disease, a rare, rapidly progressing infection of the bloodstream.

Typical symptoms include a sudden fever combined with a headache and a stiff neck, often accompanied by nausea and vomiting. A purplish rash may develop.

The illness can only be passed along through contact with the nose or throat discharges of an infected person. It is treatable with antibiotics.

The bacteria that cause the illness cannot live outside the body for more than a few minutes.

“If the organisms are coughed onto a desk or toy, for example, they will soon die,” said a letter from school Principal Toni Bristow. “They are not spread by casual contact or by simply breathing the air near a person.”

“Our students are not at risk unless they had had some type of very close personal contact and our understanding is that they’re at no greater risk than anyone else in the community,” said Cindy Andrews, a school district spokeswoman.

Kim Woods, a San Bernardino County public health epidemiologist, said those most at risk would be immediate family members who might have shared a drink or a kiss with an infected person.

Typically, there are 300 to 400 cases of meningitis a year in California, state health officials say. Meningitis killed three people in the San Francisco Bay area this spring, including two students, and sickened several others.

The county sees a handful of cases each year, Woods said.

But the severity of the disease and the rapidity with which it develops make it especially scary for parents.

There is “no rhyme or reason why some people become sick and some don’t,” she said. “That’s why it is so sad. This one will strike healthy people.”

LOS ANGELES — An environmental group has launched a door-to-door campaign to remind 250,000 Californians to conserve energy this summer.

The California Public Interest Research Group announced Thursday it wants to encourage residents statewide to reduce electricity use and urge their elected officials to expand alternative solar, wind and geothermal power.

“Unfortunately, most of the debate is revolving around the ’dig it up and burn it up’ methods of old, dirty energy sources,” said Kathleen Barr, the group’s energy campaign director.

Although President Bush and Gov. Gray Davis have backed increases in alternative energy and conservation, fossil fuels continue to occupy center stage.

Bush’s recently released energy policy calls for more oil and gas drilling, expanded use of nuclear power and 1,300 new power plants over the next 20 years. Davis has accelerated the schedule for approving new power plants, lifted pollution restrictions and is considering changes that would allow emergency diesel generators – among the dirtiest energy sources – to run more often to stave off rolling blackouts.

But Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio said the governor also is working to reduce the state’s dependence on fossil fuels.

He recently signed legislation authorizing more than $800 million in conservation incentives, Maviglio said, adding California has the nation’s most lucrative benefits for installing solar and wind systems.

CALPIRG’s efforts “are in sync exactly with what the governor’s doing,” Maviglio said.

The CALPIRG campaign, which began about two weeks ago, is intended to drum up support for state legislation that would require energy providers to get 20 percent of California’s power from renewable sources by 2010.

Those sources currently make up about 10 percent of the state’s electricity.

CALPIRG is handing out postcards to Davis urging him to support that legislation, written by Sen. Byron Sher, D-Stanford. The group also expects to collect 40,000 comments to send to Bush and Davis, urging them to support cleaner energy sources.

Previous CALPIRG summer campaigns focused on supporting increases in electric-vehicle production and improving water quality, said David Rosenfeld, field director for the energy campaign.

The current campaign is unique, he said, because people are so familiar with the power issue.

“It’s the best thing we’ve ever canvassed in terms of awareness of the problem,” he said. “The stakes are so high.”

BAKERSFIELD — Gov. Gray Davis announced a “Buy California” program Friday, promoting native farm products as part of an initiative to invigorate economic growth in the farm-rich Central Valley.

The governor called on lawmakers to support the marketing plan, which would cost $5 million for the state and $5 million from agricultural interests to promote produce, dairy and poultry.

“You’re all familiar with the success of ’It’s the Cheese,”’ Davis said, referring to a dairy marketing campaign on TV and billboards.

“Coming soon it will be the almonds, the grapes, the cherries, the tomatoes, the alfalfa, and the sweet potatoes too.”

Davis made his announcement at the second Central Valley Economic Summit, which brought together local, state and federal officials from across the valley to discuss the challenges faced in this part of the state.

While the valley is home to the nation’s richest agricultural land, it’s also a place of great disparity, with high unemployment and rural poverty.

Farmers face a shortage of water, law enforcement faces a mounting methamphetamine problem and bad air quality plagues the region.

At the same time, the region stretching from Bakersfield to Redding is experiencing some of the fastest population growth in the state as migrant workers come to work the fields and Bay Area commuters relocate in search of cheaper housing.

“We’re putting a lot of money in the Central Valley because this is where the growth is, this is where people are going to be for the next 25 to 40 years,” Davis said.

But one lawmaker in the audience said the valley’s lack of state funding, compared with other regions, required the governor’s commitment to combat the legislative strongholds from urban areas.

“Historically, we’re long on words and short on dollars,” said Assemblyman Dean Florez, D-Shafter.

Davis said he has given the valley more attention than any previous governor and pointed to commitments in education, including the University of California campus in Merced that he has pledged to have open by 2004.

Lack of education is one of the greatest barriers to leading the valley to prosperity

As the valley changes demographically, more doctors will be needed from different cultural backgrounds to treat the diverse communities, said Dr. Deborah Stewart, an associate dean the University of California, San Francisco medical program in Fresno.

However, one of the areas biggest problems is that so many students don’t go to college or pursue advanced degrees.

“They don’t believe they can do it,” said Stewart.

“No one in their family has gone to college, nevermind med school.”

He also announced an additional $32 million in statewide grants and bonds for groundwater storage and water conservation projects, with about half that money for the San Joaquin Valley.

As he has done throughout the state’s power crisis, Davis distanced himself from the cause of the problem, bashed out-of-state companies that own the power plants for price gouging, and trumpeted his fast-track approval of a plants throughout the state.

He also thanked Kern County for hosting the greatest number of new plants proposed and reminded farmers that $70 million is available to help them install energy efficient equipment and save money on power bills.

Law enforcement officials spoke with Davis about the continuing meth problem in the valley. Davis was shown household chemicals that could easily be purchased to cook meth. The center of the state is becoming the epicenter for production of the highly addictive, mind-altering drug.

The governor proposed $45 million to fight the drug, but the Legislature whittled that figure down to $30 million, which is still considered significant because the federal government has only provided $1.4 million, said Stanislaus Sheriff Les Weidman.

The blaze was 85 percent contained, however, and personnel have begun to demobilize, dropping the number of those fighting the blaze to 1,700.

The fire, which began Sunday, has cost $4.4 million in firefighting expenses and destroyed $2.5 million worth of timber, mostly on national forest lands.

It began near Susanville, about 80 miles northwest of Reno, Nev., on private timberland. The blaze was sparked by a man shooting targets in the woods, said state Dept. of Forestry spokeswoman Wendy McIntosh. The man, whose name was not released, was cited for causing a fire and letting it escape.

Two firefighters were injured while battling the blaze.

The fire skirted eight homes, coming as close as 30 feet to some of them. About 140 residents were evacuated, but most had returned to their homes by Thursday.

In southern New Mexico, a wildfire that has burned about 1,900 acres in the Guadalupe Mountains was 90 percent contained Friday, with full containment hoped for by Sunday, a fire information officer Karen Takai said.

Some 376 firefighters and support personnel were fighting the blaze, burning in the Lincoln National Forest about 10 miles from Carlsbad Caverns National Park. No buildings had been threatened by the blaze, and no injuries were reported.

California power regulators can still order the state’s largest utility to perform an accounting change the company claims will end its chance to recover billions in undercollected electric rates from its customers, a federal bankruptcy judge ruled Friday.

In his decision, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali dismissed Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s complaint against the Public Utilities Commission, saying the bankrupt utility must defer to the PUC’s regulation.

“The public interest is better served by deference to the regulatory scheme and leaving the entire regulatory function to the regulator, rather than selectively enjoining the specific aspects of one regulatory decision that PG&E disputes,” Montali wrote in his decision.

The decision settles weeks of speculation over whether PG&E could successfully avoid what it considered an illegal order from the PUC by asking Montali to halt the request, hence, potentially pitting the federal bankruptcy court against a state regulatory agency.

The dispute emerged after the cash-starved utility filed for federal bankruptcy protection April 6, unable to collect enough money from ratepayers to pay its expenses due to a rate freeze and soaring wholesale power prices.

The PUC had ordered PG&E, as well as fellow financially floundering utility Southern California Edison Co., to rebalance their accounts to better reflect how much money they earned selling off power plants under the state’s 1996 deregulation law against how much money they lost being unable to charge the full cost of electricity.

The accounting change order emerged from a request by San Francisco-based consumer group The Utility Reform Network. The group told the PUC that without the change, ratepayers would be forced unfairly to empty their pockets to rescue the utility from its debt.

PG&E has repeatedly called the change illegal, and one of its first motions after bankruptcy was to ask Montali on April 9 to block the PUC’s March 27 order.

In a printed statement Friday, PG&E said it was “disappointed that the court did not grant immediate relief from the unlawful and retroactive CPUC order. However, today’s decision was not on the overall merits of the CPUC action.”

The utility “will continue to pursue all legal challenges to this unlawful CPUC decision,” the statement said.

In its own printed statement, the PUC said it was pleased by Montali’s decision to dismiss PG&E’s complaint against the commission.

“The Commission is pleased, but not surprised, that Judge Montali has ruled that PG&E cannot evade proper state regulation by choosing to file for bankruptcy and seeking protection from Bankruptcy Court,” said PUC President Loretta Lynch.

SAN DIEGO — An elderly American cancer patient who says he traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, to buy Valium to relieve his pain has been arrested and jailed on suspicion of drug smuggling.

George Paul Murl, 81, of Oxnard was being held Friday in a state penitentiary in Tijuana after he was arrested outside a pharmacy with 600 Valium pills, U.S. and Mexican authorities said.

Murl was arrested on May 24 because he did not have a legitimate prescription for the pills, said Lorenzo Garibay, a spokesman for the Tijuana police department.

Police turned the case over to federal prosecutors, which is standard in drug cases, Garibay said.

“If you have a prescription it’s no problem,” he said. “If not, you can be arrested as a drug trafficker.”

But an American minister who has visited Murl in prison said the elderly man did have a prescription and has been buying Valium in Tijuana for several years because it is cheaper than in the United States.

The minister, David Walden of San Diego, said Murl has prostate cancer and should be released from prison on humanitarian grounds.

“He’s sick. He needs medical attention,” said Walden, who has carried food and other supplies to American prisoners in the Tijuana penitentiary for six years.

Tijuana’s many pharmacies have long attracted U.S. consumers with lower prices. But arrests for illegally buying certain drugs are fairly common.

Walden said several of the 48 U.S. citizens currently at the penitentiary were arrested on similar offenses but Murl is the oldest by far.

Murl, a World War II veteran, was told that he faces up to five years in prison if convicted, Walden said.

A representative of the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana has visited Murl and found him in “good condition given the circumstances,” said consular spokesman Clint Wright.

“In view of his age and health condition, we’re encouraging Mexican authorities to expedite the case,” Wright said.

Two rare amphibian species in the Sierra Nevada are in danger of extinction and likely would be protected under the Endangered Species Act except for a federal moratorium on new listings, a government biologist acknowledged Friday.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service imposed the moratorium in November, citing a backlog of lawsuits by environmentalists, and announced it would act only in response to court orders.

So environmentalists have taken that route again, suing to force protection of the Sierra Nevada mountain yellow-legged frog and the Yosemite toad.

“I think unless things dramatically change in the near future they deserve to be listed,” said Jason Davis, a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Sacramento who has studied the demise of the frogs and toads.

“The species probably won’t go extinct in the next three to four years, but they could shortly thereafter if something isn’t done,” he told The Associated Press by telephone.

Conservationists say the decline of the frog and toad from Yosemite National Park north to Lake Tahoe reflects the degradation of aquatic ecosystems throughout the West.

“We’re on the brink of losing what were once the two most common amphibians in the high Sierra,” said Jeff Miller, spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity in Berkeley, Calif.

“More than half of the native amphibians in Sierra Nevada watersheds are in serious decline and in need of formal protection,” said David Bayles, conservation director for the Pacific Rivers Council in Eugene, Ore.

Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund filed the suit on behalf of the two groups in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Thursday.

“The Fish and Wildlife Service’s delay in protecting the frog and toad ... is illegal and potentially dangerous for these declining species,” said Laura Hoehn, the lead attorney for Earthjustice.

Pesticides, air pollution, livestock grazing near streams and introduction of non-native fish are among the factors contributing to the decline of both species, the lawsuit said.

The groups petitioned the agency for the listings 15 months ago and the agency concluded in October that the listings might be warranted.

But the agency missed legally mandated deadlines in March to issue final decisions on the frog and the toad, as it has in the case of dozens of other listing petitions in recent years, citing a shortage of money and backlog of higher priority species.

“We probably should have had a proposed rule in this case,” Davis said.

“Currently, the moratorium mandated by the director of the Fish and Wildlife Service says we need to halt all listing actions except those being driven by a court order,” he said. “I’ve been basically told to box up all my stuff and wait for further word.”

The agency’s former director, Jamie Clark, told regional directors Nov. 17 to halt work on any listing actions not under court order or settlement agreement, saying “it will not be practical for the service to respond to any new petitions this fiscal year,” ending Sept. 30.

The Bush administration has proposed increasing Fish and Wildlife’s budget for endangered species by $2 million to $8.5 million, but that remains well short of the $120 million the agency says it needs to clear out a backlog of listings.

The new lawsuit says the Yosemite toad has disappeared from 47 percent of its historic habitat in the national park and surrounding national forests. The Sierra Nevada population of mountain yellow-legged frog has suffered similar declines.

The Yosemite toad is found along lake shores and ponds at high elevation. The female has a colored mosaic of dark blotches on an olive-tan background, and adult males mature to a bright lemon color.

Davis said the stocking of non-native trout appears to be the biggest cause of the loss of frogs because the rainbows and browns feast on the tadpoles.

“They wipe out the frogs and force them into more marginal habitat,” he said.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Nkosi Johnson, a boy who was born with HIV and became an outspoken champion of others infected with the AIDS virus, died Friday of the disease he battled for all 12 of his years.

Nkosi was praised for his openness about his infection in a country where people suspected of carrying the AIDS virus often are shunned by their families and chased from their communities. Former South African President Nelson Mandela called him an “icon of the struggle for life.”

“Children, such as Nkosi Johnson, should be enjoying a life filled with joy and laughter and happiness,” Mandela said in a recent statement. “On a frightening scale, HIV/AIDS is replacing that joy, laughter and happiness with paralyzing pain and trauma.”

Nkosi collapsed in December with brain damage and viral infections, and had not been expected to live much longer. His foster mother, Gail Johnson, said he died peacefully in his sleep in the morning.

During his short life, Nkosi successfully contested the policies that kept HIV-infected children out of public schools. He talked about his own infection, challenging people to re-examine their fear of those afflicted with AIDS.

“He had an awareness of the threat to his life and the importance of his life in lessening the threat to other people with AIDS,” High Court Justice Edwin Cameron, who is also infected with the virus, said recently. Nkosi was “a person with maturity far beyond his years, with the wisdom and courage of many adults accumulated together,” Cameron said.

Nkosi was born Feb. 4, 1989, with the virus that causes AIDS. His mother could not afford to bring him up, and Gail Johnson became his foster mother when he was 2. Nkosi’s mother died of AIDS-related diseases in 1997.

That same year, Gail Johnson and Nkosi successfully battled to force a public primary school to admit him despite his infection. The fight led to a policy forbidding schools from discriminating against HIV-positive children, and to guidelines for how schools should treat infected pupils. About 200 HIV-positive children are born in South Africa each day, but most die before they reach school age.

Nkosi became internationally known with a speech at the opening of the 13th International AIDS conference last July in Durban, South Africa, in which he asked that AIDS sufferers no longer be stigmatized.

Nkosi helped raise money for Nkosi’s Haven, a Johannesburg shelter for HIV-positive women and their children. He was crushed when a 3-month old baby his foster mother cared for died of AIDS.

“He hated seeing sick babies and sick children,” Johnson said.

The experience led to his speech at the AIDS conference, where he urged the South African government to start providing HIV-positive pregnant women with drugs to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus during childbirth.

A year later the government is still studying proposals to use the drugs.

”(Nkosi) was a symbol of resistance in a different sort of way, and I hope that this is now a lesson for us as government to do our best to deal with this AIDS scourge,” Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, a member of parliament and head of the ruling African National Congress’ women’s league, told 702 talk radio.

Gardening is a favorite pastime for both of us. While neither claims to have a green thumb, we can hold our own.

When we were kids, we and our two sisters helped our dad tidy up the garden every Saturday. Weeding, raking, trimming, sweeping and planting were a weekend ritual.

James acquired experience at an early age. From the time he was 9 until he graduated from high school, he cared for an elaborate and large garden of an aunt and uncle.

The garden consisted of four large turf areas, a formal rose garden, a baronial hedge that bordered the property, a fruit orchard, decorative planting borders and potted plants galore. James soon discovered that there was more to gardening than pulling weeds and raking leaves — although there was plenty of that, as well. The art of pruning roses, trimming hedges and tilling soil soon became a part of James’ routine.

If you have less than desirable soil, take several samples gathered from various locations throughout your yard to your local nursery or garden professional. The pro will be able test the pH of the soil and make specific recommendations concerning the types of organic material that should be used to “amend” the soil. Soil amendments should be mixed in with the existing soil using a rototiller.

If the idea of major excavation and soil replacement or amendment isn’t your cup of tea, and all you want are a few top-quality planting areas for vegetables or flower beds, think “garden beds.” There are two types of garden beds – one is dug directly into the ground – an “in-ground bed” and the other is raised, and is appropriately named a “raised bed.”

In both cases, a wood frame is built as a border to the bed. In the case of the in-ground bed, the wood framing at the perimeter is partially embedded into the soil with about 6 inches exposed above ground. The boards for a raised bed are higher (about 1 inch to 18 inches above ground) and essentially act as retaining walls.

What’s the difference between the two? Is one better than the other? Actually both styles accomplish the goal of better quality soil and improved drainage. The raised bed, however, has a couple of advantages that the in-ground bed doesn’t. The soil in a raised bed warms earlier in the spring and has better drainage. What’s more, since raised beds aren’t subject to foot traffic, the soil remains loose and easy for roots and water to penetrate.

Making a planting bed is easy. You’ll need a circular saw (a hand saw will work if you need the exercise), a driver-drill, a small sledgehammer, a pick, a shovel and a steel rake, some lumber, wood stakes, construction screws and soil.

First, decide how large you want your planting bed to be and whether you want it in-ground or raised. When considering size, remember that the center of the bed should be reachable from the edges. Say your bed will measure roughly 4 feet by 8 feet and be in-ground. Your material list should consist of two 4-foot pressure-treated 1-by-8’s and two 8-foot pressure-treated 1-by-8’s. Don’t forget six 1-foot redwood or cedar stakes and construction screws to attach the boards to the stakes.

Note: pressure-treated material is suggested because it is more rot- resistant. If you will be using the garden bed for vegetables, use redwood or cedar due to potential soil contamination from the toxic chemicals contained in pressure-treated material. Before building the frame, lay out the location on the ground and rototill and amend the soil. This will prevent damage to the frame by the rototiller after installation.

Start the box construction by attaching the two 4-foot lengths of wood to the 8-foot lengths, using the construction screws. Next, place the box in the desired location and use a pick and shovel to create a shallow trench that the box will recess into – a few inches will be adequate. Drive stakes at all four corners and one at the center of each of the two long sides for added stability. The top of the stake should be driven slightly below the top of the boards. Drive construction screws through the outside face of the boards into the stakes.

If you have your heart set on a raised bed, substitute the 1-by-8’s with 2-by-12’s and use 2-by-2 stakes that are 18 to 24 inches long. Finish the job by filling the box with premium soil, seeds or plants and water. You’ll be the envy of your neighborhood.

NEW YORK — The Nasdaq surges more than 41 percent over seven weeks and then drops back nearly 10 percent in just five days.

The Dow industrials climb 20 percent over a two-month period before falling 4 percent in six sessions.

After a protracted slump on Wall Street, it might look like the market moved a little too high too fast during its spring rally. It also might seem, given the still-uncertain outlook for earnings, that many investors didn’t learn enough from the painful lessons of the past two years.

But some analysts, looking behind the percentages, find reasons to believe investors are right to be buying at their recent clip.

“It’s part of the process of rebuilding confidence in the market. It’s just natural to have the upswings and the profit-taking and backing and filling that we’ve seen,” said Jim Herrick, managing director of trading for Robert W. Baird & Co. in Milwaukee. There was plenty of backing and filling in the market this past week, which saw the Dow tumble 166 points Wednesday and then recover a combined 117 on Thursday and Friday. The Nasdaq suffered hefty 75- and 91-point declines Tuesday and Wednesday, but recouped 65 the next two days.

More retrenching – perhaps a lot of retrenching – is anticipated because the market is just starting warnings season, the period when companies that are expecting disappointing earnings release their forecasts. Those predictions and the release of actual second-quarter results starting in early to mid-July are likely to shake investors’ resolve and set off some substantial selling. But analysts, still believing the worst is over on Wall Street, don’t expect the declines to be serious.

“We’re quite sure that the bear market ended the beginning of April,” said Eugene Mintz, financial markets analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Like other analysts, Mintz noted that investors have a lot of money and they are now intent on buying, where a few months ago their inclination was to sell.

If the market’s handling of a warning this past week from Sun Microsystems Inc. is an indicator, it should in the end be able to cope with bad earnings news.

Sun said Tuesday that the revenue in its fourth quarter, which ends June 30, could fall as much as 24 percent from a year ago, while per-share earnings would come to between 2 and 4 cents, compared with the 6 cents Wall Street expected. Wall Street initially was unnerved by the news, leading to Wednesday’s big drop. But by Thursday the market had a moderate rebound and it continued its advance Friday despite dim profit outlooks from DuPont Co. and BellSouth Corp.

What the market has going for it is its tendency to be a leading indicator for earnings and the economy, rising six to nine months before a significant improvement in fundamentals becomes a reality.

With the Federal Reserve widely expected to lower interest rates for the sixth time this year when it meets in late June, the market is likely to advance on expectations of healthier profits in the first quarter of 2002.

Still, analysts aren’t predicting the market will rally in the near future at the pace it enjoyed during the spring.

“As we come out of difficult times in the stock market, you will have these surges again and plateau for a while,” said Joseph Battipaglia, chief investment strategist at Gruntal & Co.

“There’s a tug of war,” he said. “On one hand, the Fed is easing interest rates, and there’s news on the economy that speaks to something better than recession. On the other hand, there’s earnings season and companies’ confessionals and analysts downgrading their investment ratings. It makes the market volatile in the short term.”

The Dow ended the week little changed, falling 14.96 or 0.1 percent, to 10,990.41 after a gain of 78.47 Friday.

The Nasdaq fell 101.59 or 4.5 percent for the week after rising 38.95 Friday to 2,149.44. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index had a 17.22 or 1.3 percent loss for the week, rising 4.85 Friday to 1,260.67.

The Russell 2000 index fell 6.90 or 1.4 percent for the week after gaining 5.22 Friday to close at 501.72.

The Wilshire Associates Equity Index — which represents the combined market value of all New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq issues — ended the week at $11.671 trillion, off $178.420 billion for the week. A year ago the index was $13.734 trillion.

“It was a very good month for the industry” coming off a record 2000, said Paul Bellew, GM’s executive director for market and industry analysis.

Last year, sales by U.S. automakers totaled a record 17.4 million.

George Pipas, Ford sales analysis manager, blamed the drop-off in sales on increased competition, higher gas prices and “the U.S. economy not growing as much as a year ago.”

Profits were also hurt by weak sales of Ford’s sport utility vehicles. Sales of the restyled 2002 Explorer dropped 16.5 percent from sales of its predecessor a year ago.

Ford announced the tire recall last week after concluding Wilderness AT tires installed on several of its SUVs, including the best-selling Explorer, would fail at a greater rate than competitors’ tires.

Ford will take a $2.1 billion after-tax charge this quarter to pay for the program.

Some foreign automakers fared better. Honda reported its best-ever May with a 5.4 percent rise.

But none have marketing campaigns as intensive as Gateway, which drew 20,000 visitors to its small store in Stockton, in California’s Central Valley, by inviting champion boxer Oscar de la Hoya.

The San Diego-based PC maker was the first to make a major push, increasing its Spanish-speaking call center staff from nine to 65 beginning in September, and putting merchandise and staff dedicated to Hispanics in nearly half its 300 stores.

Compaq plans its own Spanish-language initiative by the end of July, offering Presario 5000T desktop models with Spanish-language software, operating manuals and keyboards, including such characters an “n” with a tilde, which were previously available only in Latin America.

IBM, meanwhile, is increasing its involvement with Hispanic associations and businesses; HP is setting up product booths at cultural festivals.

“We realized we weren’t talking to them, we were talking at them,” said David Turner, vice president of marketing for Gateway’s consumer division. “Now we’re talking to them, and they’ve responded favorably.”

Gateway said it made three times the revenue from Hispanic customers in the first quarter of 2001 than in all of 2000. By year’s end, it expects revenue from Hispanic customers will be 13 times greater than in 2000.

Partnering with Univision Communications Inc., which owns the nation’s leading Spanish-language broadcast network and Internet service provider, Gateway also runs television commercials that are made from scratch – and not just a translated version – for a Spanish-speaking audience.

Marketing experts who have seen Gateway’s ads say the PC maker has smartly captured the attention of Hispanic viewers, appealing to their strong family values and aspirations to succeed.

One ad features a middle-class Latino family gathered around a PC, the father commenting on how Gateway helped his family fulfill a seemingly impossible dream of getting a computer.

Gateway officials are being careful to avoid the hall of shame of Hispanic marketing – ads that lose their relevance or manage to insult their audience by mangling translations.

For instance, a Spanish version of a “Got Milk?” commercial had to be pulled off the air because the translation asked the equivalent of “Are you lactating?”

Compaq, based in Houston, is equally ambitious about targeting Hispanics.

“We see this as a potential gold mine,” said Mark Vena, director for consumer desktops in Compaq’s Home and Office division.

None of the companies would say what they’re spending on these marketing initiatives, but all say the efforts will pay off.

The new focus could have come earlier, said Felipe Korzenny, principal and co-founder of Cheskin, a market research and consulting firm.

“They’ve been under the wrong impression that making specific cultural efforts were not relevant to their category,” he said.

Advertising experts say high-tech players should learn from Old Economy companies that have long catered to Hispanic consumers, such as Coca Cola or Procter & Gamble, one of the first to make product labels in Spanish.

Such companies have invested millions in time, money, and community involvement to lure Hispanics – and have won their consumer loyalty in return.

“People are looking for comfort levels,” said Robert Grayson, a consultant and 20-year veteran in marketing. “Having a tilde key (on a computer keyboard) is great, but it goes beyond the need of the tilde because you can still write ’senor’ without the tilde. What that says is, ’You’re thinking of me,’ – and that’s ethnic marketing.”

Heading into the final track & field event of the season, the St. Mary’s Panthers are in better shape than ever before. But even with nearly every hopeful on the team qualified for the CIF State Championships this weekend at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, the Panthers will need to achieve perfection to win a team title.

“This is the first time we’re heading to the state meet feeling like we can really compete for a team championship,” St. Mary’s head coach Jay Lawson said. “But for that to happen, everything would have to go perfect for us.”

With several athletes owning impressive marks in various events, Lawson’s team does indeed have the potential to take home the state title on the boys’ side. The Panthers only qualified athletes in five of the 16 events, but are expected to at least qualify for Saturday’s finals in all five.

The burden will fall most heavily on the shoulders of senior Halihl Guy, who will be involved in four of the five events. Guy won both hurdles races at the North Coast Section championship meet last weekend, and is expected to challenge for a top-three finish in the 300-meter low hurdles. He is also a key component of St. Mary’s two relay teams.

Success in the relays for the Panthers will depend on the health of Chris Dunbar. The junior was scratched from the NCS meet due to an injury, and is still questionable for this weekend. If Dunbar is able to go, the 4x100 team should challenge for first place, as the Panthers own the third-best time in the state this season. If Dunbar is unable to perform at his peak level, the team’s title hopes could go down the drain.

Triple jumpers Solomon Welch and Asokah Muhammed will try to gather points in their event, an Muhammed will also run in the relays.

For the St. Mary’s girls, it will be a full day on Friday, as they have entrants in 10 of the 16 events. But other than thrower Kamaiya Warren and distance runner Bridget Duffy, the Panthers’ girls may struggle just to qualify for Saturday’s finals.

Warren was expected to be a dual entrant, but scratched on all three attempts in the discus in the BSAL league championship meet. Although Warren felt she had a better shot at a state title in that event, she should finish high in the shot put on Friday, as she owns the fourth-best throw in the state this year. But Warren has a big mountain to climb; Karen Freberg of San Luis Obispo has thrown more than six feet farther than Warren, nearly breaking the national prep record in the event.

“You know, anything is possible. I won’t ever say that I can’t do something,” Warren said of her title hopes. “We’ll just have to see how things work out this weekend.”

Judah L. Magnes Museum “Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season” through May 2002. An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. 2911 Russell St. 549-6950

The Asian Galleries “Art of the Sung: Court and Monastery.” A display of early Chinese works from the permanent collection. “Chinese Ceramics and Bronzes: The First 3,000 Years,” open-ended. “Works on Extended Loan from Warren King,” open-ended. “Three Towers of Han,” open-ended. $6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 642-0808

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 by 40-foot replica of the fearsome dinosaur made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. When unearthed in Montana, the bones were all lying in place with only a small piece of the tailbone missing. “Pteranodon”The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. Free. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology “Approaching a Century of Anthropology: The Phoebe Hearst Museum,” open-ended. This new permanent installation will introduce visitors to major topics in the museum’s history. “Ishi and the Invention of Yahi Culture,” ongoing. This exhibit documents the culture of the Yahi Indians of California as described and demonstrated from 1911 to 1916 by Ishi, the last surviving member of the tribe. $2 general; $1 seniors; $.50 children age 17 and under; free on Thursdays. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way and College Ave. 643-7648

Holt Planetarium Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. “Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18; $3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu

The Berkeley Festival of Contemporary Performances All performances begin at 8 p.m. June 1: Steve Coleman and Five Elements; June 2: Roscoe Mitchell with George Lewis, David Wessel and Thomas Buckner. $15 Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Campus www.tempofestival.org

Empyrean Ensemble June 2, 8 p.m. Final concert of the season, featuring soprano Susan Narucki in the world premiere of Mario Davidovsky’s “Cantiones Sine Textu,” as well as works by other composers. 7 p.m. panel discussion with the composers. $14 - $18 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave 925-798-1300

Schubert Festival June 3, 4 p.m. Mini-Schubert Festival as part of the Sundays at Four Chamber Music series. Will feature Schubert’s Trout Quintet, String Trio, and more. $10 Crowden School 1475 Rose St. 559-6910 www.thecrowdenschool.org

“Big Love” by Charles L. Mee Through June 10 Directed by Les Waters and loosely based on the Greek Drama, “The Suppliant Woman,” by Aeschylus. Fifty brides who are being forced to marry fifty brothers flee to a peaceful villa on the Italian coast in search of sanctuary. $15.99 - $51 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2025 Addison St. 647-2949

“The Laramie Project” Through July 8, Wed. 7 p.m., Tues. and Thur. -Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Written by Moises Kaufmen and members of Tectonic Theater Project, directed by Moises Kaufman. Moises Kaufman and Tectonic members traveled to Laramie, Wyo., after the murder of openly gay student Matthew Shepherd. The play is about the community and the impact Shaper’s death had on its members. $10 - $50. The Roda Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org

Pacific Film Archive June 1: 7:30 Reason, Debate, and a Tale; June 2: 7:00 A River Called Trash; June 3: 5:30 Ruslan and Ludmila. Pacific Film Archive Theater 2575 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch) 642-1412

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tours All tours begin at 10 a.m. and are restricted to 30 people per tour $5 - $10 per tour. June 2: Trish Hawthorne will lead a tour of Thousand Oaks School and Neighborhood; June 23: Sue Fernstrom will lead a tour of Strawberry Creek and West of the UC Berkeley campus 848-0181

Friday June 01, 2001

A compromise for the Beth El dilemma

Editor:

As a near-daily user of Berryman Path, a former member of Beth El temple, and a frequent creek cleanup participant, it seems to me that there’s a compromise solution to the Beth El / Codornices Creek controversy. It relies on the historical accident of Berryman Path being legally a street.

Because of this, the path’s slice of land is unusually wide - 20 feet, while most of Berkeley’s paths are more like 10 or 5 feet. According to project maps (Alternative Parking 1 and 2), Beth El’s proposed parking and drive-through area just barely overlaps the 60-foot-wide creek corridor.

So, my proposed compromise: The city deeds over Berryman Path to Beth El. Beth El moves the parking area 20 feet north, daylights the creek, builds a 5-foot-wide walking and biking path next to the creek, and gives the city a permanent easement for public use of the new path.

Beth El would still have to make some other changes in their plan, for instance moving the fenced perimeter and building at least one pedestrian bridge over the creek.

However they would be getting a large chunk of extra land for their trouble, which seems like a good deal. Also, this idea doesn’t solve any of the non-creek-related objections to the project, but my impression is that those objections are secondary and Beth El has already done a reasonable job of addressing them.

I hope all involved parties will consider this idea seriously.

Jef Poskanzer Berkeley

Vandalism at garage senseless

Editor:

Can someone please explain to me the reason for defacing someone’s personal property?

Is it for laughs? Out of spite? Jealousy? Or sheer boredom?

Since starting her new job three months ago, my wife began parking in a downtown Berkeley garage.

One month ago we purchased a new black convertible to further enjoy the divine weather we have all grown accustom to here in Northern California. Being recent transplants from the Northeast, this was just what the doctor ordered.

Three weeks ago to the day our new car, which has yet to adore a California license plate, was senselessly keyed while my wife was at work.

The entire passenger side of the car was damaged along with the rear trunk lid.

All of which occurred in broad daylight. Does anyone monitor these garages?

Does the garage have no responsibility for maintaining a safe and secure environment? After all we do pay a monthly fee to park in the garage, it’s not free.

The cost to repair the vehicle was $1,500, most of which came directly out of our own pocket, and the repair process itself took three weeks.

We also learned of another car (same make) which had been keyed the very same day.

It’s anyone’s guess how many others failed to file a complaint with the garage.

This act of violence and destruction should not be tolerated in our community.

Worst of all this was not an individual targeting another, but rather someone simply destroying a stranger’s property.

This morning, a mere three weeks after the incident and only one day out of the shop, the car was keyed a second time. Apparently, several others in the garage were also damaged.

This time, in addition to filing a complaint with the garage, the police were called.

Of course, this will solve nothing.

I have a difficult time understanding how this happens not once, but numerous time in the same garage.

For those looking for parking, there is one more free spot available downtown.

You’re welcome to it.

Douglas Scalia Concord

Need staff to monitor our environment

Editor:

Berkeley is the “Eco-city” with the environmentally progressive reputation, right? WRONG!! It appears that Berkeley’s priorities have changed.

The Toxics Management Division is the department that Berkeley citizens, the Council, and the Environmental Commission rely upon to provide local environmental protection from exposures to substances such as chromium, lead, dioxin, pesticides, radioactive materials, airborne chemicals, hazardous waste, etc.

Recently I learned from the city finance director that the additional critically-needed staff position for the TMD has been cut from this year’s city budget proposal. According to the TMD manager, without the needed additional staff, the department not only will be unable to implement already approved but unfunded programs such as lead abatement, woodsmoke education, dioxin curtailment, and well surveying, but will have to drastically cut back on many of the services it currently provides such as dealing with pollution from manufacturers in West Berkeley and timely response to newly discovered environmental threats.

For example, you probably have read about the hexavalent chromium (CR6) recently uncovered in a groundwater plume at the Harrison Playfield site and the arsenic in wood in play structures in children’s play parks.Is this gross misprioritization of the use of city resources OK with you?

If not, it is not too late, but I urge you to act quickly because the budget package is due to be voted on by the City Council on June 26.

Without council intervention, senior city staff fully intends to let this happen. Please call your City Councilmember and/or Mayor Shirley Dean and tell them that they must vote to reinstate the TMD position in this year’s budget. Your councilmember’s office phone number is listed in the White Pages of the telephone directory or you can obtain it and email addresses by calling the City Clerk at 644-6480.

Jami Caseber Berkeley

Director, Citizens Opposing a Polluted Environment

Berkeley

Friday June 01, 2001

Friday, June 1

Free Writing, Cashiering

& Computer Literacy Class

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

AJOB Adult School

1911 Addison St.

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700.

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.

Therapy for Trans Partners

6 - 7:30 p.m.

Pacific Center for Human Growth

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522

Board of Library Trustees

Special Meeting

12 noon

Department of Human Resources

Bay Laurel Room

2180 Milvia, 1st floor

Regular meeting with public comments followed by closed interview session for the Director of Library Services position.

City Commons Club,

Luncheon and Speaker

11:15 a.m.

Berkeley City Club

2315 Durant Ave.

This week featuring Joe Garrett, speaking on “Survival in the Banking Wars.” Lunch served at 11:45 for $11-$12.25. Come at 12:30 to hear the speaker only for $1, students free. Reservations required for three or more.

848-3533

Saturday, June 2

Car Seat Safety Clinic

10:00 a.m.

Kittredge St. Parking Garage, second level

The Berkeley Police Department will demonstrate proper techniques for car seat installation and use, and offer safety checks and tips. Families are welcome to visit the Habitot Children’s Museum located across the street from the garage. Free.

Free Sailboat Rides

1 - 4 p.m.

Cal Sailing Club

Berkeley Marina

The Cal Sailing Club, gives free rides on a first come, first served bases on the first full weekend of each month. Wear warm clothes and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. Children must be at least five years old and must be accompanies by an adult.

Visit www.cal-sailing.org

Berkeley Farmers’ Market

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street

548-3333

Family Storytime

10:30 a.m.

Berkeley Main Library

2121 Allston Way

Storyteller Olga Loya tells tales from around the world. Geared for children three to eight and their parents. Free

649-3964

Commission On Disability

Hearings

1 - 4 p.m.

North Berkeley Senior Center

1901 Hearst St.

Open forum, opportunity for public to present ideas and concerns about barriers for people with disabilities and accessibility of City facilities. Public comment on Berkeley’s proposed “Americans with Disabilities Act Transition Plan.” Will continue on June 13.

The Cal Sailing Club, a non-profit sailing and windsurfing cooperative, give free rides on a first come, first served bases on the first full weekend of each month. Wear warm clothes and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. Children must be at least five years old and must be accompanies by an adult.

Visit www.cal-sailing.org

Hands-on Bicycle Repair

Clinics

11 a.m. - Noon

Recreational Equipment, Inc.

1338 San Pablo Ave.

Learn how to adjust front and rear derailleurs from one of REI’s bike technicians. All you need to bring is your bike. Free

527-4140

Healing Through Tibetan

Yoga

6 p.m.

Tibetan Nyingma Institute

1815 Highland Place

Slow movements of Kum Nye encourage self-healing and deeper spiritual dimensions in experience. Demonstrated and discussed by Jack van der Meulen. Free and open to the public.

843-6812

Family Day at Magnes

Museum

12:30 - 3 p.m.

2911 Russell St.

A celebration of cultural heritage, the day is co-sponsored by the San Francisco African American Historical and Cultural Society. Free admission.

www.magnesmuseum.org

Dedication of TROTH

2 - 4:30 p.m.

Northside Community Art Garden

On Northside St. 1 block N. of Hopkins

TROTH, a special earth wall toolshed and product of nearly 3 years of volunteer labor, will be dedicated today. This “cob” building was created from 50 years of soil, and is the newest of many local works which showcase art and eco-technology. Potluck meal and words from gardeners, City representatives and BART.

841-3757

Monday, June 4

“Boys Will Be Men”

6:45 p.m.

Longfellow Theater

1500 Derby St.

Special Father’s Day showing of the acclaimed documentary for Berkeley teen’s and their families. Introduced by Tom Weidlinger, followed by audience discussion. Free.

849-2683

www.berkeleypta.org

Tuesday, June 5

Berkeley Camera Club

7:30 p.m.

Northbrae Community Church

941 The Alameda

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips.

Call Wade, 531-8664

Berkeley Farmers’ Market

2 - 7 p.m.

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street

548-3333

Young Queer Women’s Group

8 - 9:30 p.m.

Pacific Center

2712 Telegraph Ave.

Make some new friends, expand your horizons and get support with a bunch of queer women all in the same place at the same time (somewhere between 18 and 25).

548-8283 or visit www.pacificcenter.org

Intelligent Conversation

7 - 9 p.m.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center

A discussion group open to all, regardless of age, religion, viewpoint, etc. This time the discussion topic is open and will follow the conversation. Informally led by Robert Berend, who founded similar groups in L.A., Menlo Park, and Prague. Bring light snacks/drinks to share. Free

527-5332

Bike for a Better City Action Meeting

6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

1356 Rose St.

www.bfbc.org

Wednesday, June 6

Fishbowl: “Everything you always wanted to know about the opposite sex but were afraid to ask”

7 p.m.. to 9 p.m.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center

1414 Walnut St.

Find out what the other half really thinks! The Fishbowl is an interesting way to anonymously ask those burning questions. $8 for BRJCC members, $10 for general public. 848-0237 x127.

Thursday, June 7

Berkeley Metaphysical Toastmasters Club

6:15 - 7:30 p.m.

2515 Hillegass Ave.

Public speaking skills and metaphysics come together. Ongoing first and third Thursdays each month.

Call 869-2547

Free Writing, Cashiering & Computer Literacy Class

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

AJOB Adult School

1911 Addison St.

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700.

www.ajob.org

LGBT Catholics Group

7:30 p.m.

Newman Hall

2700 Dwight Way (at College)

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender Catholics group are “a spiritual community committed to creating justice.” This session will be a community meeting.

654-5486

Skin Cancer Screening Clinic

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center

Summit Campus

2450 Ashby Ave.

Markstein Cancer Education Center

Skin cancer screenings are offered only to people who, due to limited or no health insurance, would be able to have a suspicious mole or other skin changes examined. Appointments are required.

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.

Call 549-2970

Living Philosophers

10 a.m. - Noon

North Berkeley Senior Center

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.

Therapy for Trans Partners

6 - 7:30 p.m.

Pacific Center for Human Growth

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522

Backpacking Essentials

7 p.m.

REI

1338 San Pablo Ave.

Review the fundamental how-tos of selecting gear for a weekend backpacking trip. Free

527-4140

City Commons Club, Luncheon and Speaker

11:45 a.m.

Berkeley City Club

2315 Durant Ave.

This week featuring Doris Sloan, Ph.D., on “Treasures Along the Silk Road Oases.” Come early for social hour. Lunch at 11:45 for $11-$12.25. Come at 12:30 to hear the speaker only for $1, students free. Reservations required for three or more.

848-3533

Saturday, June 9

Live Oak Park Fair

11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Celebrates original crafts, international diversity, and community life. One hundred artists and craftsmakers display their work, with live performances and a variety of food. Free admission.

Call 986-9337

The Bite of REI 2001

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

REI

1338 San Pablo Ave.

Taste some of the best, lightweight backpacking food and energy snacks available. At 1 p.m. Rick Greenspan and Hal Kahn with demonstrate how to turn your outdoor trips into gourmet adventures. Free

527-4140

La Pena 26th Anniversary

Benefit to Honor Dolores Huerta

7 p.m.

La Pena Cultural Center

3105 Shattuck Ave.

Music performances, slide show and raffle in honor of special guest Doloras Huerta, farm worker’s and women’s rights advocate. Huerta worked with Cesar Chavez to establish and lead the National Farm Workers Association in the 1960’s, and has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of farm workers for decades. Proceeds will go to La Pena and Huerta’s medical expenses. $20 - $25.

849-2568 www.lapena.org

Sunday, June 10

Counteracting Negative Emotions

6 p.m.

Tibetan Nyingma Institute

1815 Highland Place

Exercises presented by Sylvia Gretchen, Dean of Nyingma Studies. Free and open to the public.

843-681

Live Oak Park Fair

11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

One hundred artists and craftsmakers display their work, with live entertainment and food. Free admission.

Call 986-9337

“Kindertransport: A Personal Account”

10:30 a.m.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center

1414 Walnut St.

Hear the moving story Ralph Samuel, who escaped Nazi Germany as the age of eight. Samuel was one of an estimated 10,000 children who were rescued through the efforts of the Kindertransport operation. $4 BRJCC members, $5 for general public. Admission includes brunch. 848-0237.

Tuesday, June 12

Berkeley Camera Club

7:30 p.m.

Northbrae Community Church

941 The Alameda

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips.

Call Wade, 531-8664

Young Queer Women’s Group

8 - 9:30 p.m.

Pacific Center

2712 Telegraph Ave.

Make some new friends, expand your horizons and get support with a bunch of queer women all in the same place at the same time (somewhere between 18 and 25).

Different interpretations of biological and cultural diversity and how it’s used for very different purposes.

548-2220

Commission On Disability Hearings

4 - 6 p.m.

North Berkeley Senior Center

1901 Hearst St.

Open forum, opportunity for public to present ideas and concerns about barriers for people with disabilities and accessibility of City facilities. Public comment on Berkeley’s proposed “Americans with Disabilities Act Transition Plan.”

981-6342

Lead-Safe Painting and Home Remodeling

6 - 8 p.m.

Claremont Branch Library

2940 Benvenue Ave.

Free course on how to detect and remedy lead hazards in the home.

567-8280

“Illusions of the ‘New Economy’”

7:30 p.m.

La Pena Cultural Center

3105 Shattuck Ave.

Talk by professor and author Dick Walker. $5 donation requested.

415-863-6637

Claremont Elmwood Neighborhood Association General Meeting

7:30 - 9:30 p.m.

St. Clement’s Episcopal Church

2837 Claremont Blvd.

Covers area of Berkeley south of Dwight Way and east of Collage Avenue. Presentations on neighborhood issues.

549-3793

Thursday, June 14

Summer Noon Concerts 2001

Noon - 1 p.m.

Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza

Shattuck at Center St.

Weekly concert series. This week Berkeley High Folklorico De Aztlan.

Friday, June 15

Free Writing, Cashiering & Computer Literacy Class

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

AJOB Adult School

1911 Addison St.

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700.

www.ajob.org

Living Philosophers

10 a.m. - Noon

North Berkeley Senior Center

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.

Therapy for Trans Partners

6 - 7:30 p.m.

Pacific Center for Human Growth

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522

Strong Women - The Arts, Herstory and Literature

1:15 - 3:15 p.m.

North Berkeley Senior Center

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.

Call 549-2970

City Commons Club, Luncheon and Speaker

11:45 a.m.

Berkeley City Club

2315 Durant Ave.

This week featuring Edward Fox on “Regional Development Plans of The Wilderness Society.” Come early for social hour. Lunch at 11:45 for $11-$12.25. Come at 12:30 to hear the speaker only for $1, students free. Reservations required for three or more.

848-3533

Saturday, June 16

Berkeley Farmers’ Market

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street

548-3333

Berkeley Arts Festival Music Circus

1 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Shattuck Ave. between University Ave. and Channing Way

The Music Circus will feature dozens of eclectic performances ranging from string quartets to blues and jazz. Free bus fare to and from the event offered by AC Transit. 665-9496. Free.

Tuesday, June 19

Berkeley Camera Club

7:30 p.m.

Northbrae Community Church

941 The Alameda

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips.

Call Wade, 531-8664

Young Queer Women’s Group

8 - 9:30 p.m.

Pacific Center

2712 Telegraph Ave.

Make some new friends, expand your horizons and get support with a bunch of queer women all in the same place at the same time (somewhere between 18 and 25).

548-8283 or visit www.pacificcenter.org

Berkeley Farmers’ Market

2 - 7 p.m.

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street

548-3333

Intelligent Conversation

7 - 9 p.m.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center

A discussion group open to all, regardless of age, religion, viewpoint, etc. This time the discussion will center on frugality, generosity, simplifying life, and dealing with money. Informally led by Robert Berend, who founded similar groups in L.A., Menlo Park, and Prague. Bring light snacks/drinks to share. Free

527-5332

Fibromyalgia Support Group

Noon - 2 p.m.

Alta Bates Medical Center

Maffly Auditorium, Herrick Campus

2001 Dwight Way

This session will be a rap session.

601-0550

Thursday, June 21

Berkeley Metaphysical Toastmasters Club

6:15 - 7:30 p.m.

2515 Hillegass Ave.

Public speaking skills and metaphysics come together. Ongoing first and third Thursdays each month.

Call 869-2547

LGBT Catholics Group

7:30 p.m.

Newman Hall

2700 Dwight Way (at College)

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender Catholics group are “a spiritual community committed to creating justice.” This session will be a “Pride Mass.”

654-5486

Summer Noon Concerts 2001

Noon - 1 p.m.

Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza

Shattuck at Center St.

Weekly concert series. This week Capoeira Arts Cafe.

Friday, June 22

Living Philosophers

10 a.m. - Noon

North Berkeley Senior Center

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.

Therapy for Trans Partners

6 - 7:30 p.m.

Pacific Center for Human Growth

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522

Strong Women - The Arts, Herstory and Literature

1 - 3 p.m.

North Berkeley Senior Center

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.

Call 549-2970

City Commons Club, Luncheon and Speaker

11:45 a.m.

Berkeley City Club

2315 Durant Ave.

This week featuring Jeffrey Riegle, Ph.D., on “Historical Reasons for China’s Current Conduct.” Come early for social hour. Lunch at 11:45 for $11-$12.25. Come at 12:30 to hear the speaker only for $1, students free. Reservations required for three or more.

848-3533

Saturday, June 23

“Feast of Fire” benefit for the Crucible

10:30 p.m.

The Crucible

1036 Ashby Ave.

Act III, The Flight of Icarus, will feature live music, and performances by several groups including Capacitor and Xeno. Price of admission benefits the Crucible, a multi-disciplinary community arts center. $20 at the door.

Berkeley Farmers’ Market

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street

548-3333

Sunday, June 24

Hands-On Bicycle Repair Clinics

11 a.m. - Noon

Recreational Equipment, Inc.

1338 San Pablo Ave.

Learn how to fix a flat from one of REI’s bike technicians. All you need to bring is your bike. Free

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.

Therapy for Trans Partners

6 - 7:30 p.m.

Pacific Center for Human Growth

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522

Strong Women - The Arts, Herstory and Literature

1:15 - 3:15 p.m.

North Berkeley Senior Center

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.

Oxford Elementary School fifth-grade teacher Dana Wahlberg doesn’t have the luxury of speaking in Elizabethan English herself.

Between lessons Thursday Wahlberg was multitasking at a dizzying pace. With one eye on documents and one ear to the phone, she still managed to fire off comments, commands and questions to her students, her head swiveling back and forth across the room like a tennis instructor’s ball machine.

“What’s the matter?” Wahlberg asked one student, having somehow picked a crestfallen face out of the flurry of activity in the room, through the tiniest of glances in the girl’s direction.

Question, comment, praise, and advice in just 16 words. How Shakespeare’s head would spin!

And yet it is no doubt thanks to people like Wahlberg that Shakespeare is alive and well in the age of sounds bites and 60-hour work weeks.

For the last 12 years, Wahlberg has made it her personal mission to involve each student who passes through her class in a Shakespeare production.

It’s not part of a specially funded after-school program.

It’s not part of a districtwide arts curriculum. It is one woman’s crusade to expose her students to the work of a playwright some scholars credit with “inventing” the English language.

“This is the most important thing I do for their education,” Wahlberg said.

While math, science and history lessons might sail out of a student’s memory by the end of the summer, Wahlberg said, “Every single child in this room will remember when they’re 50 years old that they were ‘blank blank’ in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ ”

For Wahlberg, it isn’t about giving students a quick taste of Shakespeare. She will accept nothing less than the total immersion that comes from memorizing Shakespeare’s lines and bringing them to life before an audience of peers.

“My students speak Elizabethan English at home,” Wahlberg said. “They take to (Shakespeare) faster than adults. They just really, really understand it because Shakespeare’s themes are so universal.”

For the last six weeks, Wahlberg’s 23 students have been busy memorizing lines from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” For the last two weeks they have hiked up the hill to Codornices Park once a day to rehearse in the blazing sun. Thursday morning was dress rehearsal day, in front of an audience of kindergartners. The main performance is at 10 a.m. today at the north end of Codornices Park at Euclid Avenue and Eunice Street.

“She should teach high school drama,” Oxford student Tim Hewitt said of Wahlberg after the rehearsal Thursday. “She makes us work so hard for just fifth graders.”

But Wahlberg is unapologetic. All students secretly want a chance to perform on stage, she said, because it gives them a chance to shine. Furthermore, she said, the experience of overcoming stage fright and seeing a difficult performance through to its end does wonders for a fifth grader’s self-confidence.

Anyone present at the rehearsal could see all the hard work had paid off. The enthusiasm, energy and thought the students put into the delivery of their lines – many of them lines that could twist the tongues of the most literate adult – was enough to make the kindergartners buckle over with laughter.

It was even enough to spark an uncharacteristic burst of verbosity from Wahlberg.

“This is the best dress rehearsal I’ve ever seen,” Wahlberg told her students, as the gathered in the shade after the show. “You were tremendously great.”

An hour later, as they prepared for the start of a new lesson back at Oxford school, the remark still seemed to be ringing in the students’ ears.

“She thinks we can do anything,” said Spencer Moody, one of the lead characters in the play.

Kirsten McKnight, a veteran of the Pacific-10 Conference, has been named assistant women’s basketball coach at the University of California, head coach Caren Horstmeyer announced Thursday.

McKnight fills the vacancy created when Sue Phillips-Chargin opted to return to her previous job as head women’s basketball coach at Archbishop Mitty High School. Her hiring completes the Cal staff, which also includes assistant coaches Shaunice Warr and Camille Burkes.

“We’re excited with our new addition to the Cal coaching staff,” said Horstmeyer. “Kirsten brings well-rounded experience from her time coaching at Oregon. She knows what it takes to build a program into a consistent championship-caliber team.”

McKnight’s responsibilities at Cal will include assisting with recruiting and working with the development of the guards. Horstmeyer also announced that Warr would be assuming additional recruiting responsibilities as the senior member of her staff.

McKnight returns home to the Bay Area after serving for three seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Oregon. During her tenure, the Ducks won two Pac-10 championships and competed in three NCAA Tournaments.

The Larkspur product also competed in four NCAA Tournaments as a guard for the Oregon women’s basketball team beginning with the 1994-95 season. She began her collegiate playing career as a walk-on and was awarded a full scholarship by her junior season, and was voted by her teammates as the 1998 Bev Smith Most Inspirational Player.

The Parks and Waterfront Department released an environmental study Wednesday on the proposed Harrison Street Skate Park nearly seven months after discovery of a chrome 6 groundwater plume halted work on the project.

The study, or Subsequent Mitigated Negative Declaration, explained that its intent was to “describe the re-design of the skate park in light of the Hexavalent chromium (chrome 6) found in the groundwater and to provide for public view of this information.”

The study reviewed actions the city has taken and solutions implemented since the discovery of the chrome 6 plume.

Since the Stop Work Order was issued for the 18,000-square-foot skate park in November, the city has spent at least $295,000 in cleanup and re-design fees. Ed Murphy, project manager for the skate park said the cost of city staff time has not been estimated yet.

One city commissioner said the additional costs could have been avoided had the Parks and Waterfront Department followed normal procedures.

“As soon as the skate park design called for digging nine feet down for the skate bowls, the city should have ordered a study of the groundwater,” said Community Environmental Advisory Commissioner LA Wood. “When you do things backward you end up spending more money and that so far has been the legacy of Harrison Field.”

Parks and Waterfront Director Lisa Caronna said her department went forward with the project based on a 1999 initial environmental study that did not indicate there was chromium 6 in groundwater below the construction site.

But the 1999 study did not consider the excavation of the skate bowls, which had not yet been planned.

“Let me just say that we had been involved with the site for four years before the project began and we did testing, testing and more testing,” Caronna said. “But we are not avoiding the fact that we made a mistake.”

The skate park is located at Fifth and Harrison streets immediately adjacent to the Harrison Soccer Field. The soccer field and skate park are flanked by Interstate 80, train tracks and a variety of industrial businesses.

Chrome 6 is a Class A carcinogen that is harmful if swallowed and especially dangerous if inhaled, according to Environmental Protection Agency. According to the study, the groundwater in the skate bowls contained levels of chrome 6 between 1,200 and 2,100 micrograms per liter.

A December study by the Emeryville-based SOMA Corporation determined that there was little threat to humans because the site had been closed off and there were no apparent pathways for human intake.

Problems for the skate park began last November when groundwater flowed into pits being excavated for the bowls. Bill MacKay, one of the owners of Western Roto Engravers Color Tech on Sixth Street, happened to be across the street from the site, noticed the water and immediately notified Toxics Management Department that the water may contain chrome 6.

MacKay suspected the presence of the chrome 6 because his company was responsible for the plume. He said he reported the plume to the city in 1990 and has since spent nearly $1 million to remove the responsible tanks from his shop and monitor the plume’s movement, which he regularly reported to the city.

Since the discovery, the city hired private toxic management contractors to haul away 45,000 gallons of contaminated water and another 80,000 gallons were stored next to the site in 20,000 gallon tanks where it was treated and released into a nearby storm drain, according to Hazardous Materials Supervisor Nabil Al-Hadithy.

Murphy said the clean up of groundwater was completed Thursday.

According to the study, the skate park design has been altered so the five bowls will be mostly above ground. In addition, Murphy said the excavated bowls were compacted with gravel, covered with thick sheet of plastic and will soon be covered with six-inches of concrete to assure the groundwater is completely sealed off from the surface area of the skate park.

“Ideally we’d like to have the park completed something this year,” Murphy said.

Two air quality studies are about to begin at Harrison within the next week. One will monitor airborne particulate matter generated by the heavy traffic on Interstate 80, diesel fuel emissions from trains and the garbage transfer station at Second and Gilman streets.

The other study will monitor the air over the park for chrome 6. Murphy said the results of the studies won’t be available for at least a year.

“We have spent more money evaluating the environmental conditions of this site and know less about it that any other site I know of,” Wood said.

The Cal men’s varsity eight won its opening round heat at the IRA National Championship regatta on the Cooper River in Cherry Hill, N.J., on Thursday. The win advanced the Bears to the semifinal in the Varsity Challenge Cup.

The top three finishers in the each of Friday’s two semifinals will advance to the grand final and race for the National Championship on Saturday, June 2.

“It was a good day for all our crews,” said Cal head coach Steve Gladstone. “They started the regatta with some solid performances.”

In the varsity heat, the Bears got off to a quick start and immediately took a four-seat advantage over Wisconsin. Cal had a length by the 750-meter mark and had broken open water by the 1000. Cal controlled the race from the front, taking the win and advancing to the semifinal. Cal’s winning time was the slowest of any varsity heat, but it was evident that there was plenty of untapped speed as the crew rowed the final 500 meters at approximately 30 strokes per minute. Princeton, Brown and Penn won the other heats and advanced with Cal to the semifinal round, while the other semifinalists will be determined in the repechage round.

Options for building a new courthouse in Berkeley are practically nil, Deputy City Manager Phil Kamlarz said Thursday.

Kamlarz and City Manager Weldon Rucker met with county officials Wednesday to try once more to push for time to explore building a new county courthouse somewhere in Berkeley. But time seems to have just about run out, Kamlarz said.

The county is ready to remodel the building at 2120 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, making it earthquake safe, more secure, improving the ventilation and bringing it into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, said Assistant County Administrator Dona Linton. Court representatives are pushing the county to have the building ready by the end of 2003.

Linton said that as soon as the county supervisors approve a resolution that will be before them on Tuesday, the county can begin to develop the project.

“We have to move forward right away,” she said Thursday.

Kamlarz, on the other hand, said he thought the city had until June 30 to convince the county to evaluate new sites. He said even if a site were found, he doubted the city could come up with the funds for a project of this magnitude. It would take a ballot measure to raise the funds, he said. Costs for a new building have been variously estimated at $20 to $65 million.

Building a new Alameda County Courthouse in Berkeley has been in the eye of a political firestorm ever since the courts showed interest in the project more than a decade ago.

City Council factions fought over different sites and community organizations took sides as well. Among the locations rejected was a site near Addison Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Objections included the removal of affordable housing units and a landmarked building.

Another location considered was the “Hinks” parking garage, located next to the downtown library. The owner reportedly didn’t want to sell the property and downtown businesses objected to the location.

Other sites considered and rejected included the Ashby BART station and the North Berkeley BART station.

More recently the Pacific Gas & Electric building on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Center Street has been under consideration. A PG&E spokesperson said it is for sale. Old City Hall, where the school administration is currently located, has also been considered.

Meanwhile the county has redirected funds it once had set aside for Berkeley to a new courthouse it plans to build in Dublin.

Only $3 million remains. It will be spent on the remodeling, Linton said.

Part of the Civic Center planning process that included the new Public Safety Building was an Environmental Impact Report. Open space where the county court now sits was part of that plan and considered in the approval of the EIR, a document mandated in certain instances by the California Environmental Quality Act. Remodeling rather than razing the courthouse “may be a violation of the civic center EIR,” said City Councilmember Dona Spring, underscoring the importance of keeping a court building and court functions in the city.

Linton said any question of problems with the EIR will have to be addressed by the city and not the county.

If the city is obligated to accept the courthouse where it stands, Spring said the county ought to hire a consultant to design the building facade to be compatible with the historic Old City Hall to the south and the new Public Safety Building to the North.

Mayor Shirley Dean agreed.

“When we sited the Public Safety Building (next to the courthouse), we did not plan on that old building being there,” said the mayor, who has participated in many of the meetings with county officials.

While tearing the building down is now out of the question, Linton said redoing the facade is part of the plan.

What happens when a socially and financially secure 55-year-old, white male Berkeley resident, who is a pediatrician and a former oncologist is stricken with that most common and (considered) humiliating of conditions? Prostate cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the second-most prevalent cancer afflicting American men. Skin cancer is the first. Men over the age of 50 are at most risk, and black men are twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than whites.

All the rates of prostate cancer in America are currently on the rise.

“Hit Below the Belt: Facing Up to Prostate Cancer” by F. Ralph Berberich, M.D., tells the story of one medically-savvy patient’s progress – from the awful shock of the initial diagnosis to the doctor’s weary and battered arrival on the wary plateau of remission.

Unlike most first person accounts of having had prostate cancer, “Hit Below the Belt” is written in the most physically and emotionally graphic style imaginable.

Seemingly everything Berberich experienced is described such as sexual responses of a man newly deprived of the male hormone, testosterone: “It’s one thing to read that you may lose sexual interest, and it is another to walk down the street, see a gorgeous woman, and have your mind register familiar sexual attraction but only in theory (while another more powerful imposed hormone force repulses any sexual response).”

Berberich describes the exacting torment of waiting for medical results. He vividly enumerates the experience of radiation treatment. Riveting descriptions of the way a surgeon’s knife cuts through the tissue planes are also supplied.

Dr. Berberich provides detailed accounts of virtually every prostate cancer treatment option available to western medicine in the United States and Canada, ranging from radical prostatectomy to hormone deprivation. Since this is a patient well-ensconced in the medical profession, he is able to phone, e-mail and visit numerous specialists; he is able to spend about a year exploring and understanding an array of medical journals; and, with the help of contacts, he gains relatively easy emergency access to a helpful and expensive drug not covered under his medical insurer’s formulary.

In a horrible twist of fate the author’s partner is told she has been diagnosed with endometrial cancer on the very day that Berberich is given the diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Berberich praises his partner for the way she takes care of him. And he discusses the importance of his family, religion, and other support networks in assisting a patient on the road toward health.

One of the author’s mentors once told him, “With cancer, ya never know.”

Will having cancer lead to the renewed hope of long life or to a quickly approaching physical death? Will the patient experience psychological or spiritual renewal or will he become increasingly self absorbed?

For a physician, accustomed to being an authority on other people’s health, being afflicted with a serious illness – and trying to meet the enormous challenges therein – can be especially poignant.

SAN FRANCISCO — A year after California’s electricity price shocks began, regulators say they are close to proving how power wholesalers aggravated a crisis that so far has raised customer rates by $5.7 billion, saddled two utilities with $8.2 billion in losses and dumped a $13 billion bailout bill on taxpayers.

California lawmakers and regulators are determined to recover some of that money from the power wholesalers who have cashed in on the crisis.

Toward that end, the California Public Utilities Commission, Attorney General Bill Lockyer and the California Electricity Oversight Board are trying to prove out-of-state wholesalers illegally manipulated the market to create artificial supply shortages that have driven wholesale electricity prices as high as $1,900 per megawatt hour.

Before California’s power woes began in June 2000, wholesale prices on the spot market rarely climbed above $150 per megawatt hour.

California’s Legislature also has formed two special investigative committees to look into the allegations of market misconduct. And at least five suits, including one filed by San Francisco City Attorney Louise Renne, are seeking damages from power wholesalers on behalf of all Californians.

At the very least, the investigators say they will show the wholesalers violated federal laws against “unjust and unreasonable” electricity prices.

“I don’t think these are going to be very hard cases to make,” said Owen Clements, chief special litigator for San Francisco. “Even if they didn’t break the letter of the law, they clearly have violated the spirit of the law.”

The investigators also suspect that the wholesalers have orchestrated a variety of more sinister abuses, possibly by colluding. Those allegations will be hard to prove, according to legal and energy experts.

The power wholesalers say they have done nothing wrong, arguing that they are being turned into scapegoats by a 1996 deregulation law sculpted by California lawmakers and the two utilities, Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison, that have reported a combined $8.2 billion in losses since June 2000.

Michael Aguirre, a San Diego attorney handling one of the private suits, fears California regulators and politicians are spending more time rattling cages than digging into the labyrinthine operations of the power wholesalers.

“Investigations like this require a lot of hard work, not a lot of rhetoric,” Aguirre said. “So far, everyone seems to be talking loudly while carrying a small stick.”

The PUC investigation appears to be the farthest along.

With the help of former utility workers hired to assist in the investigation, the PUC has been poring through power plant documents in an effort to prove that some facilities shut down unnecessarily — sometimes at the direction of Houston energy traders monitoring the market over the Internet — to diminish supply and drive up prices.

Once prices spiked, the plants ramped up production to reap big profits, under the theory being investigated by the PUC and Lockyer’s office.

“I feel very confident that we are finding compelling evidence to prove our case,” said Gary Cohen, the PUC’s general counsel.

Cohen said the PUC could file a civil suit against the wholesalers by the end of June. Lockyer expects to wrap up his investigation in late July, at the earliest.

“The (wholesalers) say they are just playing the market the way that it was set up to operate, and to a certain degree, that’s true,” Cohen said. “We need to come up with a legal theory to show what they did was wrong.”

Both the PUC and Lockyer also are investigating allegations that the power wholesalers used industry Web sites to accumulate sensitive supply and demand information in a possible violation of antitrust laws.

To gain insight into the behind-the-scenes decisions made by wholesalers during the past year, Lockyer is offering multimillion dollar rewards to power plant workers and energy traders who provide the state with inside information that helps prove the power companies manipulated the market.

Power wholesalers say regulators are way off base in their probes. Industry officials maintain that the plants, many of which are 30 to 40 years old, shut down for legitimate equipment repairs and maintenance.

“No one in our industry cuts back on production so a competitor can make more money. It just doesn’t happen, at least not on planet Earth,” said Gary Ackerman, executive director of the Western Power Trading Forum, a Menlo Park trade group.

———

LONG BEACH LAWSUIT

Sick of what they call outrageous monthly gas bills, 12 Long Beach residents sued their city Thursday, saying officials violated the law by charging much more than neighboring Southern California Gas Co.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, claims $38 million in damages. It was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

“A lot of people have experienced 600 percent rate increases here,” lead plaintiff John Donaldson, a 55-year-old retired executive, said.

“To be fair, gas has gone up for everybody. Everyone is paying double what they did a year ago. But if you live in Long Beach, you are paying four to six times more than you did a year ago,” Donaldson said.

The suit alleges that the city, which runs its own gas utility, began overcharging in December 2000. For the previous 20 years, the city had based its rates on Southern California Gas, a formula required by city law, the suit says.

Long Beach City Attorney Robert E. Shannon blamed the high rates on the city’s suppliers, saying they charged “grossly inflated rates” that the city had no choice but to pass on to residents.

“While the city of Long Beach recognizes and sympathizes with its natural gas consumers who were subjected to an outrageous rise in natural gas rates beginning in December 2000, the rate increase was due to an unlawful conspiracy by other parties to restrict the supply of gas purchased by the city,” Shannon said in a statement issued Thursday.

He said the city sued those suppliers earlier this year and if it wins any damages it will pass them on to consumers.

Attorney Virginia Keeny, who represents those suing Long Beach, complained that her clients have been trying for months to get relief from their City Council, only to be told to “wear warmer sweaters.”

“It is outrageous and unfeeling, especially in light of the fact that may of the people who were coming to the City Council meetings were elderly and poor and were facing cutoff notices because of $500 gas bills,” she said.

Those suing also say the city brought on the crisis itself by illegally spending money it was supposed to have kept in a reserve account to cover price increases.

In the past 10 years, the city has transferred a total of $250 million from its gas department into its general fund, Donaldson said. But he wasn’t sure how much of that money might have been improperly moved.

“There is nothing wrong with taking extra funds and putting them in the general fund,” he said. “There is something wrong with doing that at the expense of making sure the utility is being run responsibly.”

LOS ANGELES — Astronomers are finding a new batch of binary asteroids – space rocks locked in an orbital dance with a partner.

The latest discovery was announced Wednesday when radar images showed that asteroid 1999 KW4 is actually a pair of objects separated by about a mile, something that had been suspected for the past year.

Radar images show a small moon just one-quarter of a mile across running clockwise around a companion three times as large.

The discovery boosts to roughly 10 the number of binary asteroids imaged by radar since 1993 when the spacecraft Galileo spotted the first, 243 Ida and its tiny moon Dactyl. Another seven suspected pairs haven’t been confirmed.

The small tally is expected to grow as astronomers refine the techniques used to view the miniature planetary systems.

“Some day, people will go to a binary asteroid and what an interesting sky they will see,” said Steven Ostro of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Observations of paired craters on the Earth and other bodies led astronomers to suspect that binary asteroids existed.

On Earth, the craters – all of equal age – are too large and too far apart to have been formed by a single asteroid breaking up in the atmosphere. The odds of two asteroids hitting the Earth in the same location and at the same time are slim – unless they were paired before impact. Not all asteroid moons orbit asteroids. The two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, are probably asteroids captured in orbit by the planet’s gravitational tug.

Czech astronomer Petr Pravec said the study of near-Earth asteroids is becoming more important – especially if scientists are going to entertain ways to defend the planet from potential asteroid impacts.

“If some of them are on a collision course with the Earth in the future, it will be more difficult to divert them than if they were a single asteroid,” Pravec said. The asteroid pairs found so far vary in their size and relationship. Pairs like 90 Antiope are nearly twins, each 50 miles or so across. Some, like 2000 DP107, are also of about equal size, but just hundreds of feet in diameter. Others are far more lopsided, like the case of 87 Sylvia, which at 176 miles across dwarfs its moon, just 5 percent as large.

Collisions may have formed many of the binary asteroids, meaning each little moon is, literally, a chip off the old block. In other cases, passing close to Earth may have pulled off material, dumping it into a mini-orbit.

In the case of 1999 KW4, the objects may be the remnants of an extinct comet. Orbital observations will allow astronomers to determine the mass, density, composition and porosity of each member of the pair.

“That tells us an awful lot about these things without having to go there,” said Bill Merline, a senior research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., who has discovered three binary asteroids.

Members of two groups well-known for filing lawsuits to protect declining species — the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife — said their offer would break through a moratorium on listings to protect some of the nation’s most imperiled animals and plants.

But they added that a deal would be only a stopgap. In a report released Wednesday, the groups also called on President Bush to increase funding for endangered species and scrap a proposal that would weaken protections.

“There are species out there that could literally be extinct in a month or two,” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Tucson, Ariz.-based center. For example, he said, the Mississippi gopher frog’s habitat has shrunk to a single pond that itself is shrinking; National Guard units have been pumping water to keep the species alive.

The groups are offering to allow what effectively would be extensions of court-ordered deadlines for Fish and Wildlife to establish critical habitat for endangered plants and animals. Suckling said the groups may allow reprieves of six months or a year. He wouldn’t say which species are being offered up for delays.

With the money Fish and Wildlife wouldn’t have to spend complying with court orders, the agency would list some of the most imperiled animals and plants, possibly including the gopher frog, the Aleutian sea otter and the Miami blue butterfly.

Fish and Wildlife spokesman Hugh Vickery said a deal would free up much-needed funding. “We’re desperate to try to get species on the list,” Vickery said, especially 37 species already proposed for listing.

Fish and Wildlife banned almost all new listings in November. This month it added one species to the list – the Ventura marsh milkvetch – because most of the work had already been completed. A court order will require the agency to add another species, the yellow billed cuckoo, in July, Vickery said.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, which declared the white abalone an endangered species Tuesday, does not have a moratorium on listings.

Vickery said money is tight because environmentalists have been “clogging the works” with lawsuits demanding critical habitat for listed species. When the government declares an area to be critical habitat for a species, Fish and Wildlife biologists must be consulted for any work requiring federal approval.

Wednesday’s report said the problem is not too many lawsuits, but too little money. Scientist Jane Goodall, actors and seven environmental groups unveiled the report at a press conference where they called on Bush to expand funding and to abandon a proposal that would restrict the public’s ability to sue for more species protections.

The world’s species “are like rivets in an airplane, and how many rivets can we lose in the airplane that holds all of us aloft?” actor Ed Begley Jr. asked.

The Bush administration has proposed increasing Fish and Wildlife’s budget for endangered species by $2 million to $8.5 million, but that remains well short of the $120 million the agency says it needs to clear out a backlog of listings.

Environmental groups propose eliminating the backlog by spending $24 million a year for five years.

SUSANVILLE — Nearly 2,000 firefighters and support personnel battling a forest fire that threatened homes and forced evacuations in the Sierra Nevada expected to have the 4,300-acre blaze fully contained by Friday.

So far, the mountain fire that burned up to the Susanville city limits about 80 miles northwest of Reno, Nev., has cost $3.7 million in firefighting expenses and destroyed $2.5 million worth of timber, mostly on national forest lands, federal officials said Thursday.

More than 150 fire engines, 10 helicopters, four air tankers and 18 bulldozers worked to complete containment lines around 70 percent of the so-called Devil fire late Thursday afternoon.

It was expected to be fully encircled, or contained, late Thursday and the fire fully under control by Monday, June 4, the Susanville Interagency Fire Center said. *The fire threatened the town of Susanville on Sunday, forcing evacuations of 60 homes and a hospital and coating streets with dark soot.

Gusty, erratic winds caused the fire to jump the Susan River to the north late Wednesday, burning a 5-acre area and again threatening homes in the Thumper Hill and Britt Road areas. But “aggressive attack by helicopters, fire engines and ground crews resulted in containment of the spot with no damage to homes,” said the statement from the fire center, which is staffed by the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, National Park Service and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Susanville blaze started about seven miles west of town Sunday on private timberland after being sparked by a man shooting targets in the woods, said state Dept. of Forestry spokeswoman Wendy McIntosh. The man, whose name was not released, was cited for causing a fire and letting it escape.

Two firefighters were injured while battling the blaze, including one with a possible broken arm.

The fire skirted eight homes, coming as close as 30 feet to some of them. About 140 residents were evacuated, but most had returned to their homes by Thursday.

Q: I have a plumbing problem wherein the toilet appears to bubble up water and the bowl completely fills with water upon flushing. It requires about 30 minutes for the water to drain out. When it does, it almost completely drains out. I have tried using a plunger, but to no avail.

A. It sounds like you have a clog somewhere in your sewer line.

To clear a clog, get a mirror and use it to look deep into your toilet’s drain. If you see nothing, remove the toilet and see if anything is stuck in the lower portion of its drain.

If the toilet is A-OK, the next step is to use a closet auger (a short flexible coil-spring cable that is used to dislodge debris in a sewer line). It’s usually safe to attempt to dislodge debris with a closet auger. A closet auger is made for short cleaning runs and doesn’t have the potential to damage a sewer line like its full-size big brother. The sales clerk at the hardware store can explain how to use the smaller device.

Once the sewer line has been cleaned, the toilet will have to be reinstalled. Don’t forget to use a new wax ring to create a watertight seal between the toilet and the sewer line.

This is one place you definitely don’t want a leak. The old wax ring will almost certainly leak. A closet auger often solves the problem and eliminates a call to a plumber.

Q: We have a small sink in our family room. The faucet ran hot and cold water slow, but it came out. Then one day it just stopped, no water at all, why?

A. This is a common problem that can be fixed in one of three ways: by cleaning the aerator at the tip of the faucet spout, by checking or changing the faucet valve gasket(s) or by replacing the nipples (short pipes) that protrude through the wall beneath the sink.

The first thing you should check is the faucet spout. Unscrew the aerator tip to remove it and turn on the water.

If water comes out, it means your culprit is a clogged aerator. Clean it with vinegar and a toothbrush. If the aerator isn’t the problem, remove the valve stems to see if the gaskets inside are preventing the free flow of water.

(For detailed instructions and a picture go to www.onthehouse.com, and type “faucet repair” into the search engine.)

If your investigation of the faucet proves fruitless, and nothing looks clogged, it’s time to scrutinize the nipples that come out of the wall.

The nipples are connected to angle stops (shut-off valves) that are below the sink and against the wall. The nipples and the shut-off valves are usually made of different materials.

Electrolysis occurs when dissimilar metals are in contact. The resultant corrosion can completely clog the inside of a nipple.

We have no idea why the valve always seems to skate through unscathed. Shut off the main water valve, remove the shut-off valves, remove and replace the nipples with modern Teflon-coated nipples (they won’t corrode because they prevent electrolysis from occurring) and put everything back the way you found it.

WARNING: The fittings and pipes in the wall could possibly be corroded, as well. This means that the project could turn out to be a big job. Be prepared for this possibility.

SAN FRANCISCO — A steady influx of young immigrant families, coupled with an exodus of older, wealthier residents, has helped California resist the graying seen across America during the last decade.

The patterns, revealed in new Census Bureau data, will reshape everything from education to crime to public health. And while some see California aging gracefully, others fear dynamics that will pit schools against nursing homes.

“It’s our youthful immigrants who will take care of us as we’re older, so we better figure out a way to help them now,” said Fernando Torres-Gil, director of UCLA’s Center for Policy Research on Aging.

Because of its size, California remains the state with the largest number of elderly, according to Census 2000 data.

Even so, Californians’ median age is just a few months past 33, a full two years younger than the median for the United States. In 1990, with a median age of 31, Californians were about 18 months younger than the rest of the country.

Only four states are younger. Residents of Utah, with a median age of 27, have not yet celebrated their 10th high school reunion. On the other end, West Virginians – with a median age just short of 39 – live in the state with the oldest population.

While California is younger than the rest of the country, the state also isn’t aging as quickly.

One major reason: California is adding kids more quickly than the nation. Nationally, the number of people 19 years old or younger rose 13 percent during the 1990s. In California, the increase was 18 percent.

Demographers attribute this baby boomlet to the state’s burgeoning population of immigrants, who generally arrive in their late 20s and tend to have more kids than native-born residents.

Without immigrant-headed families, the state’s average resident would be three years older, according to Steve Camarota of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies.

The divergent interests between an older, whiter population and younger immigrants could inflame debates about who gets public funds.

“There are plenty of school districts in the Bay Area who a few years back fell into the trap of thinking they wouldn’t need as many facilities,” said Paul Fassinger, research director at the Association of Bay Area Governments. “And now we see prefabricated buildings being wedged into the corners of campuses.”

Such school districts are searching for new properties in a tight market. Older property owners, some of whom have no kids in local schools, shoulder that tax burden.

“That is a recipe for political turmoil,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates restricting the flow of immigrants.

Political tension over immigration has subsided in recent years. Meanwhile, communities that attract new immigrants are growing – and remaining relatively young.

Nowhere is that clearer than the immigrant-heavy Central Valley. The state’s seven youngest counties are all there, with Merced County the youngest at a median age of 29.

Immigrant families with four or more kids are no exception in cities such as Fresno. That’s where Socorro Acosta lives with her husband and four kids, ages two months to 14 years.

“Rent is not that high and there is always work here, in the field or the packing companies,” said Acosta, who came to the United States 12 years ago as a 19-year-old. “Here there are many programs that help the immigrants.”

In contrast, counties in the state’s northern reaches and Sierra Nevada foothills grew older for two reasons – retirees arrived from places such as the San Francisco Bay Area, and younger workers left a moribund economy. Sparsely populated Trinity County in the far north, and Calaveras County in the Sierra Nevada foothills, are the oldest counties. The median age for residents in both is close to 45 years.

Meanwhile, droves of Californians are electing to live their golden years outside the

Golden State.

Estimates vary, but demographers agree that hundreds of thousands of people left California during the recession of the early-mid 1990s. Most projections show that trend continuing into 1999, when somewhere between 80,000 and 115,000 more people left the state than came to stay.

Many went to Western states such as Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Colorado, though Texas received the most former Californians, according to demographer William H. Frey of the Santa Monica-based Milken Institute.

Some of those emigrants were low-skilled, younger workers. But many were wealthier people looking to cash out home equity for the autumn of their lives, Frey said.

“The pre-retirees are people moving here for their last job,” said Jeff Hardcastle, Nevada’s state demographer.

California’s high cost of living is also a factor – not only does it deter seniors from moving here, it also pushes some to leave.

“It’s a little cheaper than L.A., the taxes are better,” said Marilyn McVey, a 56-year-old who moved from Los Angeles to a planned community in Las Vegas more than a year ago.

Not that all state residents are buying a one-way ticket for their 60th birthday.

“California will not be wanting for elderly at all levels of the socio-economic stratus,” Frey said.

ATLANTA — Social worker Anthony McWilliams says he sees it every day – a new generation of gays and bisexuals numb from years of endless AIDS statistics and warnings about the epidemic.

“It becomes blah, blah, blah – noise to them,” said McWilliams, a counselor for AID Atlanta. “It’s just not getting through to them. They need to hear it a new way.”

Two decades after the discovery of AIDS, a new government survey suggests gay men and bisexuals too young to remember the disease’s explosive first years are contracting it at alarming rates.

The survey shows 4.4 percent of gay and bisexual men ages 23 to 29 are newly infected each year with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

For blacks in that group, the figures are staggering: One in seven becomes HIV-positive each year – roughly the same infection rate currently found among adults in South Africa.

“The numbers we’re publishing right now are more like the findings you see in the ’80s than the findings you see in the ’90s,” said Linda Valleroy, who led the survey for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Left unchecked, the infection rates could lead to a resurgence of AIDS after years of progress to control it.

“We have to stop and take a look at the devastation that potentially could occur among these young men,” said Dr. Helene Gayle, the CDC’s AIDS chief. “These are precious and important lives.”

AIDS prevention groups called the figures extremely disturbing, saying the country needs to devise new ways to reach young adults at risk.

“These are young people who didn’t see their friends dying, didn’t lose lovers and friends and people who were important to them,” said Marty Algaze, a spokesman for Gay Men’s Health Crisis. “It’s very scary. This is a new generation of people who should know better, but don’t.”

Health officials were particularly concerned about the infection rates among young black gays and bisexuals, saying the stigma in the black community of having HIV or AIDS may be keeping testing rates low.

The study included nearly 3,000 gay and bisexual men who were tested anonymously for HIV from 1998 to 2000 in Baltimore, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Seattle.

Government analysts acknowledged the data could be flawed: The men were recruited only at dance clubs, bars, shopping centers and gay-and-lesbian community centers, so the true rates for all young gay and bisexual men could be different.

There are no comparable historical data on infection rates for young black gays and bisexuals.

A CDC study earlier this year found HIV infections disturbingly common in large U.S. cities among gay men of all races in their 20s.

That study found that 3 percent of Asians, 7 percent of whites, 15 percent of Hispanics and 30 percent of blacks are infected with the virus.

And a San Francisco study found the rate of new HIV infections among gay and bisexual men in that city nearly tripled from 1997 to 1999.

The government’s effort to contain HIV/AIDS may be cursed by its own success, CDC analysts said.

New HIV infections have leveled off in America at about 40,000 a year and improved medicine allows AIDS patients to live longer, healthier lives.

“People don’t perceive that you get infected and you die in two months anymore,” said Phill Wilson, executive director of the African-American AIDS Policy and Training Institute at the University of Southern California.

“There’s all these posters around that say you can climb mountains and do whatever with HIV and AIDS.

“There’s not enough messages about the price you have to pay,” he said.

Since the discovery of AIDS – first reported in a June 5, 1981, government health bulletin as a strange form of pneumonia – there have been about 750,000 reported cases in America. Nearly 450,000 of those patients have died.

In Washington, Surgeon General David Satcher hailed the nation’s HIV and AIDS prevention efforts Thursday, but he called the anniversary a solemn milestone.

“Twenty years into the AIDS epidemic, as a nation and as individuals, we may need a stark reminder that the best way to stop AIDS is to prevent HIV infection in the first place,” he said.

Berkeley firefighters called for a shelter-in-place on Wednesday, for a number of blocks surrounding the Takara Sake Factory in west Berkeley, where an ammonia spill occurred about 3:45 p.m.

Assistant Fire Chief Michael Migliore said no reports of injuries came in following the spill. He said a leak of between 300 and 400 gallons of ammonia was reported at the factory, located at Fourth and Addison streets.

The problem apparently arose as workers there attempted to transfer the volatile material from one tank to another and a gasket or a similar device failed.

The shelter in place order was lifted before 8 p.m., Migliore said.

About 35 people were evacuated in the area between Fourth and Fifth streets and Allston Way and Addison Street. Those who did not wish to leave were asked to remain indoors during the four-hour incident.

A larger area – from Fourth Street to Bancroft Way, including University Avenue and down to Aquatic Park – was temporarily cordoned off to keep people from getting into the problem area.

Ashkenaz hosts Camp

Winnarainbow Benefit

For 29 years children have been coming together at Camp Winnarainbow to learn juggling, tightrope walking, improvisation, music, dance and other performing arts. This multicultural circus camp was founded by local activist and clown Wavy Gravy and his wife, Jahanara, to provide an arena where children of all backgrounds can work and play together in a supportive atmosphere, according to a press statement. Wavy Gravy will appear at Ashkenaz Sunday at 7 p.m. in a benefit on behalf of the camp’s Scholarship Program. Also performing are The Flying Other Brothers with Pete Sears and Greg Anton, David Gans and surprise guests.

Junior college transfer numbers rise for UC

Students transferring from community colleges to the University of California increased by more than 9 percent for the fall of 2001, with minorities up nearly 18 percent, the university announced today. African Americans, American Indians and Latinos accounted for the large leap in minority transfers with respective increases of 14 percent, 85 percent and 16 percent.

UC President Richard Atkinson said, “Transferring from the community colleges is an excellent and affordable way to come to the University of California, so it is encouraging to see the increases in transfer students this year.”

A partnership between the university and Gov. Gray Davis calls for a 6 percent annual increase through 2005-06 of transfer students from community colleges to the university. The university said the recent findings indicate that the partnership is well on its way to attaining that goal.

“Increasing student access to UC through the transfer route is one of the university's highest priorities,” Atkinson said.

SAN JOSE — People across the country who sell things on eBay are furious with the auction site because of its recent move to charge subscription fees for a popular piece of software that makes it easier to list items.

In irate notes on message boards and e-mails to the company, sellers accuse eBay of getting greedy and belying its warm and fuzzy community-focused image. Some are threatening a class-action suit because older versions of the software, which cost as much as $200, stopped working.

Everyone else who uses the Internet should take note.

An increasing number of companies, including giant Microsoft Corp., are expected to embrace subscription models and move away from selling software for a one-time fee. The companies say they simply can’t afford to keep giving away free upgrades.

“The trend is undeniable – it’s just a question of how long it’s going to take,” said Rob Enderle, a research fellow with Giga Information Group. “The existing model isn’t working. You can certainly try to live in the past, but whether you’re a Microsoft or an eBay, you’re probably going to get bypassed.”

Microsoft has introduced subscription-based options for business software, including the new Office XP, and called the move a “first step toward offering software as a service” — meaning subscription plans for all users. Oracle Corp. gives away sales force management software for now, but has indicated it eventually will charge a subscription.

The eBay software was known as Auction Assistant, and now is called Seller’s Assistant. Because it helps eBay users post attractive presentations of their products and manage the transactions, it is popular among people who list several items at once.

It was created by Pennsylvania-based Blackthorne Software, which eBay acquired in 1999.

Users say they bought Auction Assistant and its supercharged version, Auction Assistant Pro, for $50 to $200 over the years with the understanding that Blackthorne would upgrade the software for free when improvements were available, or when needed because of technical changes in the massive eBay site.

In February, Blackthorne informed users Auction Assistant was being upgraded, taking on the new Seller’s Assistant name and switching to a subscription model – $4.99 a month for the basic version, $15.99 for Pro. Existing Auction Assistant users were told they could get a year’s subscription to the new software for free.

On April 1, Blackthorne’s president, John Slocum, wrote on the company’s online discussion board that almost two-thirds of Auction Assistant users had switched to Seller’s Assistant. He added that, after April 30, Blackthorne “cannot assure users that Auction Assistant will continue to be fully functional or compatible with the eBay site.”

Despite the warning, many users were caught off guard when their Auction Assistant programs stopped working last week. They accused eBay of intentionally making Auction Assistant useless to force them to buy the new software.

“Why weren’t we just grandfathered in, since we already owned the same program?” said Cindy Izon of Tulsa, Okla., who sells decorative dolls on eBay. “It makes me so mad.”

Dan Rushing of Albuquerque, N.M., lamented what he called eBay’s “extreme arrogance.”

Collectibles seller Carol Hudson of Chattanooga, Tenn., wrote in an e-mail interview: “Most of us have been angry with them for two or three years because of their ‘do it our way or get lost’ attitude. But this time, they have really gone too far and shown their true colors.”

EBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove said nothing was done intentionally to disable older versions of Auction Assistant. He said what occurred is most likely “the natural obsolescence that’s going to be developing any time a piece of software ages.”

He also said the subscription model is necessary to finance continued improvements to the Blackthorne software, and disputed suggestions the company was taking unfair advantage of its dominating position in the online auction business.

“I realize that’s a fairly common remark when any customer has a certain level of frustration, but it doesn’t do the business any good to ‘bleed people dry,”’ Pursglove said. “We want users to continually come to eBay, to continually use the Blackthorne programs to sell on eBay.”

Arthur Newman, head of Internet research at ABN Amro Inc., supported eBay’s stance and said it is part of the new economics of the Web.

“I think the Internet over the last few years has spawned a whole generation of people who expect to get everything for free and forget you have to pay for services,” he said. “If people can’t make money providing them, they’re going to stop providing them. There’s a limit to good will. EBay is hardly alone in starting to charge for things.”

In sweltering heat, about four dozen high school athletes are doing drills while coaches bark instructions at them. These players won’t actually play a game for another four months, but they know that starting jobs can be on the line even today.

Welcome to spring football at Berkeley High. The 50 or so juniors- and seniors-to-be that are on the field for the next two weeks are the immediate future of the team, and will be put through their paces as if the season started next month. With a new varsity coach in charge, few of the players know what to expect.

Although new head coach Matt Bissell has coached most of these players before as the junior varsity coach over the past two seasons, this will be his first crack at spring football, since it is only for varsity players. He has to plan the next four months, and that’s just to get to the first game.

“I’ve been running around like a guy with his head cut off,” Bissell said. “There’s a lot of things for me to do every day.”

Bissell not only had to adjust to life in the fast lane when he was chosen varsity coach earlier this year, but he’s had to round up an entire coaching staff, as none of last year’s assistants stuck around after former head coach Gary Weaver decided to leave. Weaver had some success in his only year at BHS, tying for the ACCAL title and missing the playoffs by a tie-breaker.

Working both inside and outside the school, the new coach has managed to put together a staff of 10 assistants.

“They’ve come from all over. Some of them called me, some got to me over the Internet, and a couple of faculty members approached me,” Bissell said.

The most work will need to be on the offense, as Bissell decided to change from last year’s pro-style offense to a mix of several different systems.

“We’re doing variations of some things we’ve seen from successful local high school programs,” he said. “There will be a lot more movement than last year, which should play to our strengths.”

The new offense will be complex, meaning the returning players will have to make a fast adjustment. They will also be adjusting to a new offensive coordinator, who is a former head coach at another Bay Area program. But Bissell is confident that between spring ball and summer workouts, things will come together.

“We’re throwing a lot of stuff at them right now, and they’re a little confused,” he said. “But I know almost all of these kids, and they’re responding really well.”

Bissell is also impressed at the effort shown by most of the returning starters. According to him, very few players are taking their positions for granted.

“You’ve always got the mantra of ‘no job is safe,’ but between what I saw of some guys last year and how hard I’ve seen them work so far, I can’t help but pencil in some guys,” he said.

Thursday May 31, 2001

Judah L. Magnes Museum “Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season” through May 2002. An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. 2911 Russell St. 549-6950

The Asian Galleries “Art of the Sung: Court and Monastery.” A display of early Chinese works from the permanent collection. “Chinese Ceramics and Bronzes: The First 3,000 Years,” open-ended. “Works on Extended Loan from Warren King,” open-ended. “Three Towers of Han,” open-ended. $6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 642-0808

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 by 40-foot replica of the fearsome dinosaur made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. When unearthed in Montana, the bones were all lying in place with only a small piece of the tailbone missing. “Pteranodon” A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22-23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. Free. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821

The Berkeley Festival of Contemporary Performances All performances begin at 8 p.m. June 1: Steve Coleman and Five Elements; June 2: Roscoe Mitchell with George Lewis, David Wessel and Thomas Buckner. $15 Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Campus www.tempofestival.org

Empyrean Ensemble June 2, 8 p.m. Final concert of the season, featuring soprano Susan Narucki in the world premiere of Mario Davidovsky’s “Cantiones Sine Textu,” as well as works by other composers. 7 p.m. panel discussion with the composers. $14 - $18 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave 925-798-1300

Schubert Festival June 3, 4 p.m. Mini-Schubert Festival as part of the Sundays at Four Chamber Music series. Will feature Schubert’s Trout Quintet, String Trio, and more. $10 Crowden School 1475 Rose St. 559-6910 www.thecrowdenschool.org

“Big Love” by Charles L. Mee Through June 10 Directed by Les Waters and loosely based on the Greek Drama, “The Suppliant Woman,” by Aeschylus. Fifty brides who are being forced to marry fifty brothers flee to a peaceful villa on the Italian coast in search of sanctuary. $15.99 - $51 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2025 Addison St. 647-2949

“The Laramie Project” Through July 8, Wed. 7 p.m., Tues. and Thur. -Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Written by Moises Kaufmen and members of Tectonic Theater Project, directed by Moises Kaufman. Moises Kaufman and Tectonic members traveled to Laramie, Wyo., after the murder of openly gay student Matthew Shepherd. The play is about the community and the impact Shaper’s death had on its members. $10 - $50. The Roda Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org

Pacific Film Archive June 1: 7:30 Reason, Debate, and a Tale; June 2: 7:00 A River Called Trash; June 3: 5:30 Ruslan and Ludmila. Pacific Film Archive Theater 2575 Bancroft Way 642-1412

Bernard Maisner: Illuminated Manuscripts and Paintings. Through Aug. 8 Maisner works in miniature as well as in large scales, combining his mastery of medieval illumination, gold leafing, and modern painting techniques. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 2400 Ridge Rd. 849-2541

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tours All tours begin at 10 a.m. and are restricted to 30 people per tour $5 - $10 per tour. June 2: Trish Hawthorne will lead a tour of Thousand Oaks School and Neighborhood; June 23: Sue Fernstrom will lead a tour of Strawberry Creek and West of the UC Berkeley campus 848-0181

In this area few men’s mere presence has impacted the public image of African American lawyers, as did the late State Appellate Court Justice Clinton White. An Oakland resident, and native of Sacramento, he was the voice of the African American legal community, long before he became first an Alameda County Superior Court Judge in 1977 and later a State Appellate Court Justice. Although, others were fighting aggressively for racial equality within the judicial system, no one fought for African Americans like he did. In the tradition of national civil rights lawyers, like Charles Houston, Thurgood Marshall and William Hastie, Clint White, as he was known before becoming a judge, viewed the law as an instrument to achieve social justice. In the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, he was the consummate lonely warrior representing African Americans in courtrooms where the odds were perpetually stacked against them.

For decades Clint White was a strident voice for African Americans in the criminal justice system. He offered a unique form of social commentary explaining to jurors or to anyone who would listen that the criminal justice system was biased against African Americans and that African Americans were entitled to justice free of racism and bigotry. Before it was fashionable, he strenuously railed against the process that allowed for the exclusion of blacks from juries. By the sheer force of his personality and superb lawyering skills he demanded that African American attorneys be treated with respect and above all he aggressively challenged racist assumptions that contaminated the entire judicial system, including prosecutors, judges, police officers and even defense attorneys.

As a physically imposing and proud man with a rich baritone voice, he demanded respect for himself and his clients. As such he, more than any lawyer of his generation, changed the perception of African American lawyers. During a time when the radio and television minstrel show, Amos and Andy depicted African American lawyers, as shallow, footshuffling, and unprepared, Clint White was the antithesis of that image. His cross-examination was legendary and his fund of knowledge about the plight of African Americans was a daily history lesson. For every aspiring lawyer, myself included, he was the model, the personification of an African American lawyer. He taught us that as the best and brightest each case presents a unique opportunity to educate and challenge. He was the classic life long teacher without a classroom and his legacy will be the hundreds among us who listened and who are committed to keeping his faith by fighting for social justice.

So as the African American community mourns the passing of this courtroom giant and social engineer those beyond the black community should know that aside from the Martin Luther Kings or Malcolm Xs, there were others of their generation who also felt the pain of discrimination and used their professional skills to bring about social change. Clint White was such a man and because of his commitment and life long contributions, the judicial system in Northern California has been enriched and the image of African American lawyers has changed for the good, forever.

Oakland civil rights lawyer John Burris is author of “Blue vs. Blue: Let’s End the Conflict Between Cops and Minorities,” 1999, St. Martin’s Press.

Thursday, May 31

Outdoors Unlimited’s director, Ari Derfel, will give a slide presentation on some of his favorite destinations for three-to-four-day backpacking vacations. Free 527-4140

League of Women

Voters’ Dinner and Meeting

5:30 - 9 p.m.

Northbrae Community Church

941 The Alameda

Featuring speaker Brenda Harbin-Forte, presiding judge of the Alameda County Juvenile Court on “What’s happening with Alameda County children in the juvenile justice system after Prop. 21?” $10 to reserve buffet supper. May bring own meal or come only for meeting/speaker.

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.

Therapy for Trans Partners

6 - 7:30 p.m.

Pacific Center for Human Growth

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17. $8 - $35 sliding scale per session Call 548-8283 x534 or x522

Board of Library

Trustees Special Meeting

12 noon

Department of Human Resources

Bay Laurel Room

2180 Milvia, 1st floor

Regular meeting with public comments followed by closed interview session for the Director of Library Services position.

City Commons Club,

Luncheon and Speaker

11:15 a.m.

Berkeley City Club

2315 Durant Ave.

This week featuring Joe Garrett, speaking on “Survival in the Banking Wars.” Lunch served at 11:45 for $11-$12.25. Come at 12:30 to hear the speaker only for $1, students free. Reservations required for three or more.

The Cal Sailing Club gives free rides on a first come, first served bases on the first full weekend of each month. Wear warm clothes and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. Children must be at least five years old and must be accompanies by an adult.

Visit www.cal-sailing.org

Berkeley Farmers’ Market

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 548-3333

Family Storytime

10:30 a.m.

Berkeley Main Library

2121 Allston Way

Storyteller Olga Loya tells tales from around the world. Geared for children three to eight and their parents. Free

649-3964

Commission On Disability

Hearings

1 - 4 p.m.

North Berkeley Senior Center

1901 Hearst St.

Open forum, opportunity for public to present ideas and concerns about barriers for people with disabilities and accessibility of City facilities. Public comment on Berkeley’s proposed “Americans with Disabilities Act Transition Plan.” Will continue on June 13.

981-6342

Longfellow Middle School’s

Outdoor Arts Festival

Noon - 4 p.m.

Longfellow Courtyard

1500 Derby St.

Live music performances, silent auction of student and community art, BBQ and bake sale. Talent showcase and awards ceremony from 2 - 3 p.m. Free admission, open to the public. 665-1980

Birdwatching Walk

and Breakfast

8 a.m.

Botanical Garden

200 Centennial Drive

This is the time of year when the greatest variety of birds can be found in the Garden, including some rare species. $25, limited space, call to reserve. 643-2755

Sunday, June 3

Rosa Parks Spring

Celebration and Fund-raiser

Noon - 4 p.m.

Rosa Parks

920 Allston Way

Silent auction, quilt raffle, cake walk and field events.

Free Sailboat Rides

1 - 4 p.m.

Cal Sailing Club

Berkeley Marina

The Cal Sailing Club gives free rides on a first come, first served bases on the first full weekend of each month. Wear warm clothes and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. Children must be at least five years old and must be accompanies by an adult.

Visit www.cal-sailing.org

Hands-on Bicycle Repair

Clinics

11 a.m. - Noon

Recreational Equipment, Inc.

1338 San Pablo Ave.

Learn how to adjust front and rear derailleurs from one of REI’s bike technicians. All you need to bring is your bike. Free

527-4140

Healing Through Tibetan

Yoga

6 p.m.

Tibetan Nyingma Institute

1815 Highland Place

Slow movements of Kum Nye encourage self-healing and deeper spiritual dimensions in experience. Demonstrated and discussed by Jack van der Meulen. Free and open to the public.

843-6812

Family Day at Magnes

Museum

12:30 - 3 p.m.

2911 Russell St.

A celebration of cultural heritage, the day is co-sponsored by the San Francisco African American Historical and Cultural Society. Free admission.

www.magnesmuseum.org

Dedication of TROTH

2 - 4:30 p.m.

Northside Community Art Garden

On Northside St. 1 block N. of Hopkins

TROTH, a special earth wall toolshed and product of nearly 3 years of volunteer labor, will be dedicated today. This “cob” building was created from 50 years of soil, and is the newest of many local works which showcase art and eco-technology. Potluck meal and words from gardeners, City representatives and BART.

841-3757

Monday, June 4

“Boys Will Be Men”

6:45 p.m.

Longfellow Theater

1500 Derby St.

Special Father’s Day showing of the acclaimed documentary for Berkeley teen’s and their families. Introduced by Tom Weidlinger, followed by audience discussion. Free.

849-2683

www.berkeleypta.org

Tuesday, June 5

Berkeley Camera Club

7:30 p.m.

Northbrae Community Church

941 The Alameda

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips.

Call Wade, 531-8664

Berkeley Farmers’ Market

2 - 7 p.m.

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street

548-3333

Young Queer Women’s Group

8 - 9:30 p.m.

Pacific Center

2712 Telegraph Ave.

Make some new friends, expand your horizons and get support with a bunch of queer women all in the same place at the same time (somewhere between 18 and 25).

548-8283 or visit www.pacificcenter.org

Intelligent Conversation

7 - 9 p.m.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center

A discussion group open to all, regardless of age, religion, viewpoint, etc. This time the discussion topic is open and will follow the conversation. Informally led by Robert Berend, who founded similar groups in L.A., Menlo Park, and Prague. Bring light snacks/drinks to share. Free

527-5332

Bike for a Better City Action Meeting

6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

1356 Rose St.

www.bfbc.org

Wednesday, June 6

Fishbowl: “Everything you always wanted to know about the opposite sex but were afraid to ask”

7 p.m.. to 9 p.m.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center

1414 Walnut St.

Find out what the other half really thinks! The Fishbowl is an interesting way to anonymously ask those burning questions. $8 for BRJCC members, $10 for general public. 848-0237 x127.

Thursday, June 7

Berkeley Metaphysical Toastmasters Club

6:15 - 7:30 p.m.

2515 Hillegass Ave.

Public speaking skills and metaphysics come together. Ongoing first and third Thursdays each month.

Call 869-2547

Free Writing, Cashiering & Computer Literacy Class

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

AJOB Adult School

1911 Addison St.

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700.

www.ajob.org

LGBT Catholics Group

7:30 p.m.

Newman Hall

2700 Dwight Way (at College)

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender Catholics group are “a spiritual community committed to creating justice.” This session will be a community meeting.

654-5486

Skin Cancer Screening Clinic

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center

Summit Campus

2450 Ashby Ave.

Markstein Cancer Education Center

Skin cancer screenings are offered only to people who, due to limited or no health insurance, would be able to have a suspicious mole or other skin changes examined. Appointments are required.

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.

Call 549-2970

Living Philosophers

10 a.m. - Noon

North Berkeley Senior Center

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.

Therapy for Trans Partners

6 - 7:30 p.m.

Pacific Center for Human Growth

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522

Backpacking Essentials

7 p.m.

REI

1338 San Pablo Ave.

Review the fundamental how-tos of selecting gear for a weekend backpacking trip. Free

527-4140

City Commons Club, Luncheon and Speaker

11:45 a.m.

Berkeley City Club

2315 Durant Ave.

This week featuring Doris Sloan, Ph.D., on “Treasures Along the Silk Road Oases.” Come early for social hour. Lunch at 11:45 for $11-$12.25. Come at 12:30 to hear the speaker only for $1, students free. Reservations required for three or more.

848-3533

Saturday, June 9

Live Oak Park Fair

11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Celebrates original crafts, international diversity, and community life. One hundred artists and craftsmakers display their work, with live performances and a variety of food. Free admission.

Call 986-9337

The Bite of REI 2001

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

REI

1338 San Pablo Ave.

Taste some of the best, lightweight backpacking food and energy snacks available. At 1 p.m. Rick Greenspan and Hal Kahn with demonstrate how to turn your outdoor trips into gourmet adventures. Free

527-4140

La Pena 26th Anniversary

Benefit to Honor Dolores Huerta

7 p.m.

La Pena Cultural Center

3105 Shattuck Ave.

Music performances, slide show and raffle in honor of special guest Doloras Huerta, farm worker’s and women’s rights advocate. Huerta worked with Cesar Chavez to establish and lead the National Farm Workers Association in the 1960’s, and has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of farm workers for decades. Proceeds will go to La Pena and Huerta’s medical expenses. $20 - $25.

849-2568 www.lapena.org

Sunday, June 10

Counteracting Negative Emotions

6 p.m.

Tibetan Nyingma Institute

1815 Highland Place

Exercises presented by Sylvia Gretchen, Dean of Nyingma Studies. Free and open to the public.

843-681

Live Oak Park Fair

11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

One hundred artists and craftsmakers display their work, with live entertainment and food. Free admission.

Call 986-9337

“Kindertransport: A Personal Account”

10:30 a.m.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center

1414 Walnut St.

Hear the moving story Ralph Samuel, who escaped Nazi Germany as the age of eight. Samuel was one of an estimated 10,000 children who were rescued through the efforts of the Kindertransport operation. $4 BRJCC members, $5 for general public. Admission includes brunch. 848-0237.

Monday, May 21, came as a rude awakening to fire department personnel throughout Northern California.

State wildfire experts had been keeping a nervous eye on the unseasonably dry, warm and windy weather for weeks, but it was on that particular Monday that indicators took a dramatic turn for the worst, said Berkeley Assistant Fire Chief David Orth.

Officials at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection responded first by moving up the beginning of fire season from June 4 to May 28. Then they apparently took a deep breath, looked back out the window, and found the nervousness had not gone away.

The 2001 fire season was declared officially open the very next day.

In addition to heightened alertness, the opening of fire season means the dedication of more resources to fire fighting. The CDF goes on a spending spree, signing contracts for everything from helicopter pilots to Port-A-Potties. Under mutual aid agreements in effect during fire season, multiple fire-fighting agencies will respond at the first sign of smoke in a wildfire zone.

Why all the concern?

According to National Weather Service Meteorologist Shane Snyder,18 inches of rain have been recorded in the Oakland area since last July – only a few inches below the average for this time of year. But the rains came early, and things have been unseasonable warm and dry since them, said Orth and others.

In other words, Star Thistle, Queen Anne’s Lace and other plants that blanket steep hillsides from Richmond to Oakland had ample water to grow tall and bushy before drying out into the combustible skeletons that California’s veteran fire fighters know all too well.

“We have seen weeds two to three times as high as last year,” said Orth, a veteran of the 1991 wildfire that devoured 3,000 homes in Oakland and Berkeley. “Some of the material is as dry now as it was in June of last year.”

Last year was a comparative light year for forest fires in California. According to CDF statistics, fires consumed 72,718 acres and caused about $30 million in damages in 2000, compared to an average of 157,868 acres and $80 million in damages per year, averaged over the previous five years.

Orth said things have already reached an alarming level this year.

“Our critical time has started, which is really new for us,” Orth said, explaining conditions typically don’t reach a critical level until September. “June is usually pretty foggy for us. I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Wednesday was a particularly bad day. As temperatures soared into the 90s by mid-afternoon, a hot, dry wind began blowing from the east – the same kind of wind that made the 1991 fire burn down hill, towards homes, faster than it burned up hill. By 3 p.m. the wind was gusting up to 35 mph, sucking out what little moisture was left in the hillsides.

Had Orth been at home, he would have heard his back door begin to rattle.

“That’s one of my indicators,” Orth said.

But Orth was watching other indicators on Wednesday, such as the one that measures what fire experts call “fuel moisture.” This is measured by fastening a piece of wood to a springed scale up in the Oakland hills. As the moisture evaporates from the wood, the change in weight is translated into a “fuel moisture” reading. Wood with 28 percent moisture will not burn at all. Wood with anything below 5 percent moisture is a spark away from spontaneous combustion.

“Anything below five and I want to take a vacation and get out of here,” Orth joked.

By 3 p.m. Wednesday, the “fuel moisture” level in the Oakland hills had hit 4 percent. Orth expected it to be at 3 percent by the end of the day.

“The only good thing is that it’s just started,” Orth said of the low moisture levels. “If we had three days of this, I think we’d be in real trouble.”

Snyder called Wednesday’s heat “just a quick spike up” in temperatures. The wind should begin to come in from the Bay today, Snyder said, holding temperature in the mid-eighties and bumping up the humidity level. By Friday, Snyder forecast a stiff ocean breeze would push temperatures down into the mid-seventies.

But, even then, the risk will be far from over.

“Everybody is concerned,” said City Councilmember Betty Olds, whose hilly northeast Berkeley district lies almost completely in what fire fighters call the “threat zone.”

Olds said city programs are in place to help reduce the fire risk. The city distributes large, green waste bins to anyone who requests them, so hill residents can keep their property clear of combustible debris during the fire season. In the second week of June, the city’s so-called “chipper crew” will begin making the rounds in the hills every couple of weeks, helping interested residents cut back vegetation around their homes.

The only problem with these programs, said Olds, is that they depend on citizens taking an active role – something not all hills residents may be inclined to do.

“It’s the fact that people have forgotten,” Olds said. “They’re not as alert as they were a few years after that terrible fire (the 1991 fire).”

City fire officials have already begun their own efforts at cutting back vegetation in critical areas. Hundreds of goats have been deposited at various hillside locations and left to feast on the overgrown brush plants.

“They just munch and munch and munch and eat about everything,” Orth said.

By June, Orth said the goats should have gobbled up enough plant life to clear a strip 200 to 300 feet wide along the eastern edge of Wildcat Canyon Road. The cleared area will act as a barrier to stop fires that begin in Tilden Region Park from spreading into the city, he said.

But perhaps the most effective tool for Berkeley fire fighters, Orth said, is the partnership between Berkeley Fire Department and other fire fighting agencies that takes affect during fire season. This partnership, initiated in the wake of the 1991 fire, ensures a massive response to any fire that occurs inside the “threat zone” during the fire season. If there is so much as a report of car burning on the side of the road in the Berkeley hills, as many as 22 fire trucks from 5 different agencies could be en route within minutes, Orth said.

“If we do this and we’re ready, we’re able to contain a lot of these fires,” Orth said.

“If it’s a car fire and it’s into the trees and bushes and it’s starting to spread up to a house, then you’re going to want all those 22 units,” he added.

Thursday May 31, 2001

Save nature at 1301 Oxford

Editor:

The contributions of Beth El members to the youth, elders and people in need in our community are many and commendable, but what has this to do with paving an oak woodland in the Codornices Creek corridor, and driving hundreds of cars into a neighborhood searching for parking?

There must be Beth El members, maybe their children, who would be thrilled to see steelhead trout swimming up the creek, to see owls perched in the oaks, to walk down Berryman Path and not see rows of parked cars.

The natural beauty of 1301 Oxford can be preserved and enhanced by undergrounding the proposed parking and locating the access road south of the creek corridor.

The degradation of the Oxford/Rose/Spruce neighborhood by traffic congestion will be avoided by Beth El’s commitment to a fuel cell-powered electric shuttle service for congregation members who cannot reach the synagogue on foot, and who will feel fortunate to have transportation when in a few years gasoline will cost $5 a gallon.

Allowing Codornices Creek to be daylighted on Beth El’s property, allowing the oaks and bay trees to grow without the threat of being cut down, and minimizing traffic congestion and pollution would then be even more contributions by Beth El members to our community.

Sheila Andres

Berkeley

Night games waste energy

Editor:

The Stadium Light issue really isn’t between permanent and temporary lights, but why is CAL or any school in California scheduling any outdoor athletic event at night?

Given the energy crisis, free sunshine is about the only incentive California has to offer a broadcaster. High energy costs, coupled with potential blackouts should send Fox and other broadcasters and their revenue off to other states.

John Cecil

Berkeley

Marines on bikes

Editor:

The Viet Cong never had a tank on the ground, a helicopter in the air, an aircraft at sea; all they had were bicycles, yet they won the war.

The first-ever People’s State of the City Address served up good food, good music and plenty of ideas for the city’s future.

In contrast to a traditional State of the City Address that usually reflects a chief executive’s vision, organizers, which included Councilmembers Margaret Breland and Kriss Worthington as well as Rent Stabilization Board Chair Max Anderson, sought to “offer a ‘peoples’ State of the City Address, expressing many snapshots arranged in a collage of voices, reflecting a kaleidoscope of opinions and visions for the near future,” according to the event program.

About 200 people attended the event, which featured more than a dozen speakers who addressed a comprehensive array of issues including energy, housing, disabilities and racial diversity. While the subject matter covered the most serious issues facing the city, the event wasn’t without a sense of fun and celebration.

Organizers provided a spread of Latin, Middle Eastern, African and vegetarian food and, between brief speeches, the audience was entertained by the sounds of local jazz singer Gwen Avery and the debut of The Nancys, a group made up of women named Nancy, which included former Councilmember Nancy Skinner, former Zoning Adjustments Board Chair Nancy Carleton, Public Works Commissioner Nancy Holland and former Arts Commissioner Nancy Gorrell.

“I thought it was fun and very informative,” event host Worthington said on Wednesday. “There were lots of interesting ideas and the compelling memory of the night is the interplay of all these issues.”

The event was inspired by Mayor Shirley Dean’s State of the City Address on May 1, Worthington said.

Dean, who leads the moderate council faction – organizers are part of the progressive council majority – said on Wednesday that she would like to withhold comment on the ideas presented until she had time to review a tape of the event.

Councilmember Dona Spring presented an energy plan that called for putting a bond measure on the 2002 ballot that would raise funds to pay for every home and apartment building to become energy independent by installing photovoltaic panels. Spring estimated the cost per household would be $28,000. (A recent report from the mayor’s office estimated the cost to be closer to $10,000, or even less with state energy rebates.)

“The City of San Francisco is floating a bond measure to raise funds to solarize municipal buildings. Berkeley would be the first city to float a bond measure to solarize all of our residential structures,” she said. “This will free Berkeley forever from the tyranny of the price gouging energy companies.”

Among a variety of suggestions for a sustainable energy plan, energy advocate Cynthia Wooten Cohen called for reducing energy use by providing low-voltage, fluorescent light bulbs to every resident who requests them.

UC Berkeley student activist Howard Chong called for more state funding for student housing. “We have a housing crisis,” he said. “Seven percent of students, according to a ASUC survey, have ‘couch surfed’ and over one-half of a student’s income goes toward rent alone.”

Chong criticized the university for not originally creating housing in its multi-million dollar Underhill Project that included a parking garage and dining hall but no housing until students “camped out on the chancellor’s lawn” and “the press shamed the university, only then did housing get added to the Underhill Area Project.”

He then called for the university to work with students in solving the problem. “I challenge the university to open up its books and doors and include students and community members in the decision-making process,” Chong said.

Commission on Disability Vice Chair Karen Craig said that Berkeley has fallen behind Oakland and San Francisco in meeting the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, approved in 199. Craig said the disabled community would like to see a Department of Disability created that would oversee disabled projects including building accessibility, transportation and traffic safety issues.

Other speakers included School Board President Terry Doran who promoted “small learning communities” at Berkeley High School, which he said would counter a sense of isolation among students.

Former Councilmember Nancy Skinner praised Berkeley residents for achieving the goal of reducing garbage and waste to 50 percent of what it was 10 years ago. She then challenged residents to stop generating the remaining 50 percent.

Bicycle Boulevard Coordinator Sarah Syed suggested the city start an employee alternate transportation incentive program that would inspire businesses to do the same.

“Our city should lead by example and launch an employee-incentive program, like the city of Alameda, which gives its employees $2.50 per day for using non-automobile commute options.”

The Nancy’s were invited out for an encore performance. They were joined by Rent Stabilization Board member Paul Hogarth who led the audience in a few verses of “We shall not be moved” to end the evening.

Worthington said he had received a lot of positive feedback from people who attended the event. He added it was a lot of work to put together and he wasn’t sure if there would be a People’s State of the City next year.

“The return of The Nancys was my favorite part,” he said. “That was some of the most fun of the whole evening.”

Syed said she enjoyed the event. “I thought it was really positive,” she said. “It’s nice to hear from a variety of people about what the real state of the city is. I hope it happens next year.”

So its five members, its student representative and six community people, including union leaders, a school administrator, the PTA president and a Peralta Community College Board member, took a trip to Los Angeles County to interview those who had worked with Michele Lawrence, the top candidate for the superintendent post. The board announced Lawrence’s appointment on Tuesday.

In the process, the board left the public out of the loop.

And probably violated the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law – though First Amendment Coalition Executive Director Kent Pollack said he thought any court would say the violations were of a minor, technical nature.

Thirty-seven year Berkeley resident Peter Sussman, former chair of the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and former head of the chapter’s Freedom of Information Subcommittee, argued that the technical nature of the infraction was less important than the board’s violation of the spirit of the Brown Act.

When the public is ignored, “it can lead to lack of trust and even cynicism,” Sussman said. Signaling out a group of Berkeley High parents who have stepped forward to create a new program for their failing children, Sussman said this is a particularly critical time for the school board to extend an invitation to participate to the broad school community.

“The biggest problem in our schools is the lack of buy in and the lack of participation,” said Sussman, whose children went through Berkeley’s public schools. By the time the public has a chance to comment on the superintendent’s appointment, “it’s a fete accompli,” he said.

The violation

The Brown Act says it is OK for an elected body to schedule a visit to a place outside its district for personnel reasons. So there was no problem with the board decision to go to Paramount, in Los Angeles County, to check out the new superintendent’s references first hand.

The Brown Act requires the agenda to be properly noticed to newspapers and the public.

Generally, Board of Education agendas are posted in the school administration building and sent to individuals, groups and newspapers who have requested notice of meetings.

Interim superintendent secretary, Queen Graham said agendas for the trip, described as a closed session meeting, were simply posted, but not mailed, due to time constraints.

Ralph Stern, the district’s legal counsel told the Daily Planet that a Brown Act violation could be claimed only if there was no agenda mailed to those for whom a written request was on file.

Catch 22.

The school district does not keep a record of those who have requested agendas in writing. Original requests are thrown away when they are placed on a master list, Graham said. So, for example, one could not prove conclusively that a particular newspaper had made a written request for an agenda.

In addition to a problem with meeting notification, there was no provision for public comment before the executive session, as required by the Brown Act. The agenda that was posted at the building and faxed on request Wednesday to the Daily Planet says that “The meeting will be called to order by the presiding officer at 7 a.m. and immediately recess to closed session.”

It would have been impossible for the board to allow public comment, even if the agenda had allowed for one, as the body was on an airplane headed to L.A. at 7 a.m.

And the place of the “closed session” meeting was vague. After the roll call, the board members were to “Recess to closed session – Board Conference Room.” The address of the closed session was not given because, according to Stern, the group broke up and talked to people in a number of locations. The only location given on the agenda was Los Angeles County and not Paramount, in L.A. County, where the meetings took place.

The district tries

School Director Ted Schultz said the district tries to follow open meeting requirements. “We’re very conscious of the Brown Act,” he said. At the same time, he said, it is constricting. Hiring a superintendent needs to be done quietly, because, if the person who was being investigated were not selected after all, the public knowledge could affect the candidate’s status in her district. “We tried to be as open as possible and to protect the confidentiality of the applicant,” he said.

School Director Joaquin Rivera said there was no attempt at secrecy. Had anyone asked, the questioner would have been told about the trip, he said. Still, he said, “at that point, the intent was, we did not want people to know who that person (the top candidate) was.”

Both School Director Shirley Issel and Interim Superintendent Steve Goldstone said they thought the agendas had been mailed out. (Had they been put in the U.S. mail, they would probably have reached their destinations, after the day-long excursion.) “I don’t think there was any conscious effort not to inform you,” he said.

Berkeley Federation of Teachers President Barry Fike, who went on the trip, however, had another view. “I was told no one was supposed to know about the trip,” he said, adding that he was unaware until he got on the plane that the full board would be going.

Like the other board members, School Board Director John Selawsky said he was not aware that notices had not been sent to the press and public. “I think all meetings should be noticed consistently,” he said.

Asked whether he thought it would have hurt negotiations with the future superintendent, had a Daily Planet reporter known about the trip and gone along, Selawsky said, to the contrary: “It would have been good for the community.”

SAN FRANCISCO — MarketWatch.com Inc. announced Wednesday it is laying off about 15 percent of its work force, making the popular online business news site the latest media outlet to shrivel in the face of an advertising slump.

MarketWatch’s cutbacks translate into the loss of about 40 jobs from its 250-employee payroll. The layoffs, coupled with other expense reductions, will save the company about $9 million annually.

In trading Wednesday on the Nasdaq Stock Market, MarketWatch’s shares fell 14 cents to close at $2.76, well below its January 1999 initial public offering price of $17. The stock peaked at $130 shortly after its IPO.

Like many other Internet companies, San Francisco-based MarketWatch is struggling to become profitable at the same time that its main revenue source – advertising – is drying up.

Advertising accounted for 65 percent of MarketWatch’s $54 million in revenue last year. After losing $91 million in 2000, MarketWatch opened the first quarter of this year with a $20 million loss as the company’s advertising revenue plunged by 41 percent from the prior year.

“As painful as this process is, we believe that we will emerge stronger and more agile to meet the challenges this market presents,” MarketWatch CEO Larry Kramer said. Kramer reiterated the company’s goal of breaking even by the end of this year.

Even highly profitable media giants, ranging from newspaper companies to TV networks, are jettisoning workers to offset the loss of advertising from once-flush dot-com start-ups and free-spending technology companies that fed on the Internet boom.

The wide-ranging media cutbacks have raised concerns that news coverage will suffer, a worry that may also hound MarketWatch as it battles in the highly competitive field of online journalism.

“Clearly, they are not going to be able to do as much as they have in the past,” said industry analyst Michael Legg of Jefferies & Co. “They are going to have to focus on the key components of the business.”

Kramer said MarketWatch remained committed to high-quality journalism. About 85 of MarketWatch’s employees cover the news.

Although MarketWatch is relatively small, the company quickly established a high profile by hiring well-known market commentators and capitalizing on its ties to CBS.

In addition to owning a 34 percent stake in MarketWatch, CBS has provided the Web site with free advertising and programming space on its television and radio stations. Through Dec. 31, CBS had provided MarketWatch with advertising valued at $38.5 million. MarketWatch will receive an additional $21.5 million in advertising from CBS through May 2002.

After a four-month, nationwide search that yielded 22 candidates, the Berkeley Board of Education announced Tuesday it has found its new superintendent.

Michele Barraza Lawrence, 53, Superintendent of the Paramount Unified School District in Los Angeles County for the last 10 years, will become Berkeley’s new superintendent of schools effective July 16. She will be paid $185,000 annually during her four-year contract.

In interviews with four finalist on May 10, Lawrence simply came out “head and shoulders” above the competition, said Berkeley Board of Education President Terry Doran.

“She connected with (all the board members) on a personal level. And we are very different people,” Doran said. “So that leads us to believe that she will connect with this community.”

The board followed up a second interview with Lawrence by paying a day-long visit to the Paramount school district, near Long Beach, last Wednesday. A select group of Berkeley school administrators, union representatives and other community leaders accompanied the board on the trip, interviewing their counterparts in the Paramount district and visiting various schools.

“I’ve never seen such an orderly place,” said Berkeley PTA Council President Mark Coplan.

Although the district is nearly twice as large as Berkeley, with 17,500 students, Coplan said the overriding sense of community and shared purpose made it feel like there were 3,000 students.

Coplan and others acknowledged that the Paramount students are drawn from a more racially and economically homogenous community than Berkeley. Whereas Berkeley’s students are nearly one-third African American, one-third white and one-third other races, the Paramount district is nearly 80 percent Hispanic, with African Americans accounting for roughly 15 percent of the student population and whites less that 5 percent.

Whereas Berkeley is clearly divided into affluent and less affluent communities, the Paramount area is home to mostly middle and working-class families.

Leadership comes more easily in a homogenous community than it will in Berkeley, said Berkeley School Board Student Director Niles Xi’an Lichtenstein.

“She definitely had control over her district,” Lichtenstein said. “But it seemed like the people down in that district were more ready to be led.”

Coplan said, “Berkeley is going to be a totally new experience for her. But there wasn’t a person we talked to who didn’t praise her.”

Despite the differences between the two communities, Lawrence has dealt successfully with many of the problems facing Berkeley schools as superintendent of the Paramount district, said Doran and others. During her leadership the district raised test scores and graduation rates, reduced violence and truancy and dramatically increased parent involvement in school life by building up Parent Teacher Association organizations nearly from the ground level.

“All the things that we really want to have happen in Berkeley,” Lawrence dealt with successfully at Paramount, Doran said.

Many who visited the Paramount district last week said they were impressed with the smooth operation of the district’s administrative office, something they said Paramount employees attributed to Lawrence’s leadership.

School Board Vice President Shirley Issel said the Paramount district offered a glimpse of “what a functioning district looks like” to Berkeley school leaders often frustrated by their own central office’s apparent lack of organization.

“We were looking for someone who had created that; who had an internal standard that she could bring the district to,” Issel said.

Also significant to many was Lawrence’s depth of experience with high schools, an area of particular concern in Berkeley, where Berkeley High’s problems with truancy, violence and an academic achievement gap have endangered its accreditation as a secondary school.

During her career, Lawrence has worked at more than half a dozen high schools, as an art teacher, councilor and principal. As superintendent, she oversaw a reform process at the Paramount High school which lead to its being accredited for a six year term instead of a three year term.

Short term accreditations are granted when a school is perceived as having unresolved issues that require heightened vigilance. Last spring the Western Association of Schools and Colleges granted Berkeley High a one year accreditation.

Issel said board members were impressed by Lawrence’s answers to questions about Berkeley High’s accreditation problem.

“She conveyed confidence that, with a tremendous amount of hard work starting right now, we could...get ourselves accredited,” Issel said.

In an interview Tuesday, Lawrence said she is proud of her work to set higher standards for student achievement in Paramount schools. In a district with math and reading test scores are well below the state average, Lawrence said she “instilled in the community a belief system that minorities can in fact achieve at high levels.”

“When we talk about the achievement gap, it’s all my district’s students and the rest of the world,” Lawrence said, pointing the fact that 67 percent of students in the Paramount district speak English as a second language.

Through a collaboration involving parent, teachers, union leaders and business leaders, Lawrence reformed the district’s curriculum to make it more challenging to all students. Basic math classes were replaced with a three-year algebra curriculum beginning for all students in the sixth grade. Biology and geometry were made mandatory for all ninth graders. Advanced Placement offerings were expanded.

“The things that will improve the achievement gap more than anything else is effective teaching,” Lawrence said. “The system has to work in harmony and get behind what’s going on in the classroom.”

Lawrence said she was looking forward to working in a high-profile district such as Berkeley, where educators have an opportunity to lead the way for the rest of the nation with reforms.

As for the move to Berkeley, Lawrence, who has lived her whole life within a 20-mile radius of Paramount, admitted that she was a little nervous.

Thursday, May 31

Outdoors Unlimited’s director, Ari Derfel, will give a slide presentation on some of his favorite destinations for three-to-four-day backpacking vacations. Free 527-4140

League of Women Voters’

Dinner and Meeting

5:30 - 9 p.m.

Northbrae Community Church

941 The Alameda

Featuring speaker Brenda Harbin-Forte, presiding judge of the Alameda County Juvenile Court on “What’s happening with Alameda County children in the juvenile justice system after Prop. 21?” $10 to reserve buffet supper. May bring own meal or come only for meeting/speaker.

843-8824

Friday, June 1

Free Writing, Cashiering

& Computer Literacy Class

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

AJOB Adult School

1911 Addison St.

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700.

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.

Therapy for Trans Partners

6 - 7:30 p.m.

Pacific Center for Human Growth

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522

Saturday, June 2

Car Seat Safety Clinic

10:00 a.m.

Kittredge St. Parking Garage, second level

The Berkeley Police Department will demonstrate proper techniques for car seat installation and use, and offer safety checks and tips. Families are welcome to visit the Habitot Children’s Museum located across the street from the garage. Free.

Free Sailboat Rides

1 - 4 p.m.

Cal Sailing Club

Berkeley Marina

The Cal Sailing Club, a non-profit sailing and windsurfing cooperative, give free rides on a first come, first served bases on the first full weekend of each month. Wear warm clothes and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. Children must be at least five years old and must be accompanies by an adult.

www.cal-sailing.org

Berkeley Farmers’ Market

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 548-3333

Family Storytime

10:30 a.m.

Berkeley Main Library

2121 Allston Way

Storyteller Olga Loya tells tales from around the world. Geared for children three to eight and their parents. Free 649-3964

Commission

On Disability Hearings

1 - 4 p.m.

North Berkeley Senior Center

1901 Hearst St.

Open forum, opportunity for public to present ideas and concerns about barriers for people with disabilities and accessibility of City facilities. Public comment on Berkeley’s proposed “Americans with Disabilities Act Transition Plan.” Will continue June 13.

981-6342

Longfellow Middle School’s

Outdoor Arts Festival

Noon - 4 p.m.

Longfellow Courtyard

1500 Derby St.

Live music performances, silent auction of student and community art, BBQ and bake sale. Talent showcase and awards ceremony from 2 - 3 p.m. Free admission, open to the public.

665-1980

Birdwatching Walk and

Breakfast

8 a.m.

Botanical Garden

200 Centennial Drive

This is the time of year when the greatest variety of birds can be found in the Garden, including some rare species. Join Chris Carmichael and Dennis Wolff for breakfast and a walk. $25, limited space, call to reserve.

Sunday, June 3

Rosa Parks Spring

Celebration and Fund-raiser

Noon - 4 p.m.

Rosa Parks

920 Allston Way

Silent auction, quilt raffle, cake walk and field events.

Free Sailboat Rides

1 - 4 p.m.

Cal Sailing Club

Berkeley Marina

The Cal Sailing Club, a non-profit sailing and windsurfing cooperative, give free rides on a first come, first served bases on the first full weekend of each month. Wear warm clothes and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. Children must be at least five years old and must be accompanies by an adult.

Visit www.cal-sailing.org

Hands-on Bicycle Repair

Clinics

11 a.m. - Noon

Recreational Equipment, Inc.

1338 San Pablo Ave.

Learn how to adjust front and rear derailleurs from one of REI’s bike technicians. All you need to bring is your bike. Free 527-4140

Healing Through

Tibetan Yoga

6 p.m.

Tibetan Nyingma Institute

1815 Highland Place

Slow movements of Kum Nye encourage self-healing and deeper spiritual dimensions in experience. Demonstrated and discussed by Jack van der Meulen. Free and open to the public. 843-6812

Tuesday, June 5

Berkeley Camera Club

7:30 p.m.

Northbrae Community Church

941 The Alameda

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 531-8664

Berkeley Farmers’ Market

2 - 7 p.m.

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 548-3333

Young Queer Women’s Group

8 - 9:30 p.m.

Pacific Center

2712 Telegraph Ave.

Make some new friends, expand your horizons and get support with a bunch of queer women all in the same place at the same time 548-8283 www.pacificcenter.org

Intelligent Conversation

7 - 9 p.m.

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center

A discussion group open to all, regardless of age, religion, viewpoint, etc. This time the discussion topic is open and will follow the conversation. Informally led by Robert Berend, who founded similar groups in L.A., Menlo Park, and Prague. Bring light snacks/drinks to share. Free

The Daily Planet omitted the letter writer’s name when it published “Playing that density song” on May 29. We are reprinting it with the author’s name – ed.

Playing that density song

Editor:

Another day, another soliloquy from Richard Register. Another moving tribute to the glories of density and the energy-consumptive dangers of sprawl.

I especially loved the timing of the most recent hymn to “diverse pedestrian and transit centers.” It was printed the day after a Zoning Adjustments Board public hearing on taking a retail space right at the corner of San Pablo and University and converting it to office space, which requires a variance.

The Zoning Adjustments Board voted for it, with one no vote and one abstention. Thirty-five of the merchants who own businesses at or near the corner of University and San Pablo signed a petition opposing the office space, because if you take a chunk out of the retail potential of a commercial area, the whole district gets the hit. People want to shop in a place where they can buy tuna, get their shoes fixed, grab a video, and pick up shoelaces without driving all over town.

The residents who signed the petition are the hard-pressed people living in perhaps the last honest neighborhood in Berkeley, and perhaps the oldest.

The area along San Pablo Avenue used to be a favorite drive decades ago because of its tree-lined views and pedestrian bustle, the place where retail, industry, and residential uses dovetailed and the rail lines brought everything and everyone together.

We recently lost our pharmacy, our shoe store, and our stationary store. One of our best antiques stores is about to have to leave, and would have loved the visibility of the retail space.

The two non-profits who may move in if the appeal fails are undoubtedly groups which give valuable service to the Berkeley community, but are in no way capable of generating the walking trade and filling the daily needs of an ever more dense “traffic corridor” constantly taking the weight of the large, dense housing developments which no one seems to care are only geared for the $30,000-and-over crowd.

Where was Richard Register and the Ecocity Builders when this latest small-scale assault on the potential for a pedestrian-serving neighborhood came down? Where were the consultants who gave us the crayons for our moment of participation during the University Avenue Strategic Plan workshops? The Green Party?

Somehow the crew that warbles for density is never around when the variances are handed out that reduce the liveability of the neighborhood, that piece by piece, shot by shot, reduce it to scrap.

The chains move in, the Mom and Pops move out, or sell out to chains. I listened to two representatives from the non-profit groups argue that they just couldn’t find anywhere else to move. I work in a non-profit, too, in a loft in the back of a showroom right next to a Bart Station which has two empty spaces which rent for less than the retail space in question. Office space is going wanting all over town.

The people in our neighborhood have a smaller chance today of the ice-cream store, the shoe repair shop, the gift shop, and the bookstore. But count on it, in another few weeks or so, you’ll hear that density song again.

Everybody’s playing it.

Carol Denney

Berkeley

Beth El’s good deeds relevant to zoning

Editor:

In his second letter to Daily Planet in the past two weeks against Congregation Beth El’s building project, Phillip Price says he can’t understand why Beth El’s contributions to the community should be part of the discussion about building a new synagogue.

I can’t figure out why this puzzles him.

If his proposed new neighbor on Oxford Street were an organization that does NOT contribute greatly to the community – or that some people believe does not contribute to the community – that would certainly be a central issue in the discussion.

The fact that Beth El is devoted to doing good deeds or “mitzvot” is just as relevant, because that makes it exactly the kind of place Berkeley’s zoning laws welcome into residential neighborhoods.

Mr. Price alleges that alternate building sites have been suggested to the congregation. As far as I know, there have been only two references to alternate sites.

One was in the Environmental Impact Report on the building plan, which found no appropriate alternate sites in Berkeley. The other was a statement – some might call it a demand - by a speaker at one of many hearings on the project suggesting that this long-time Berkeley congregation should move out of town, possibly to El Cerrito.

Mr. Price, no one supporting Beth El has ever accused opponents of the project of being “bad.” Obviously, there are good people on both sides of this issue. But there are clear and substantial differences in perspective.

Beth El’s perspective is that it can build a beautiful future landmark appropriate to the neighborhood while at the same time preserving Codornices Creek and other natural features of the site. The Environmental Impact Report on the project, the Zoning Adjustments Board, and hundreds of Berkeley citizens, including some neighbors of the site, agree with this perspective.

David Golner

Berkeley

Council should demand changes to Beth El plans

The following is part of a letter sent to the city council on the question of 1301 Oxford St.

This letter is to urge you to vote against accepting the Beth El plans as they now are.

After almost a year and a half of writing letters, emails and attending meetings, I feel that my and other neighbors’ concerns have been barely acknowledged in this situation: namely the too-large building proposed, parking, traffic safety and the covered creek.

I have lived on Summer Street for 31 years. I know very well the ebb and flow of the traffic in this area. I am also well acquainted with Temple Beth El. My children attended camp Keetov. I have attended bar and bat mitzvahs at the temple. Many of my friends and acquaintances are members of Congregation Beth El.

I have nothing personally against the temple nor the people who attend it. But I do object to such a large building with such a large congregation in that space and in this neighborhood. I have no evidence that any good faith measures were made to look for other possible sites.

There is still no real regard as to the impact on the neighborhood of 250 plus people coming to temple on Friday evenings and for high holidays (more people then) and bar and bat-mitzvahs.

Although there are clearly many improvements to the proposed building plan which deal with noise, parking problems etc, there simply is not enough parking in this area to accommodate that many people. Many of us in the immediate surrounding neighborhood do not have garages, let alone driveways, due to the slippage and earth movement under our streets.

Here are my specific concerns and suggestions:

• The building planned is simply too large for the space and the neighborhood.

• If the driveway were built at the south end of the property many problems with the current design could be solved.

• Provide a shuttle for both religious and non-religious events.

Mary Ann Brewin

Berkeley

Letters to the Editor

Berkeley Daily Planet

Dear Editor:

The contributions of Beth El members to the youth, elders and people in need in our community are many and commendable, but what has this to do with paving an oak woodland in the Codornices Creek corridor, and driving hundreds of cars into a neighborhood searching for parking ?

There must be Beth El members, maybe their children, who would be thrilled to see steelhead trout swimming up the creek, to see owls perched in the oaks, to walk down Berryman Path and not see rows of parked cars. The natural beauty of 1301 Oxford can be preserved and enhanced by undergrounding the proposed parking and locating the access road south of the creek corridor.

The degradation of the Oxford/Rose/Spruce neighborhood by traffic congestion will be avoided by Beth El’s commitment to a fuel cell-powered electric shuttle service for congregation members who cannot reach the synagogue on foot, and who will feel fortunate to have transportation when in a few years gasoline will cost $5 a gallon.

Allowing Codornices Creek to be daylighted on Beth El’s property, allowing the oaks and bay trees to grow without the threat of being cut down, and minimizing traffic congestion and pollution would then be even more contributions by Beth El members to our community.

Sheila Andres

Berkeley

Editor:

The Stadium Light issue really isn’t between permanent and temporary lights, but why is CAL or any school in California scheduling any outdoor athletic event at night?

Given the Energy crisis, free sunshine is about the only incentive California has to offer a broadcaster. High energy costs, coupled with potential blackouts should send Fox and other broadcasters and their revenue off to other states.

John Cecil

Berkeley

Editor:

As a near-daily user of Berryman Path, a former member of Beth El temple, and a frequent creek cleanup participant, it seems to me that there’s a compromise solution to the Beth El / Codornices Creek controversy. It relies on the historical accident of Berryman Path being legally a street. Because of this, the path’s slice of land is unusually wide - 20 feet, while most of Berkeley’s paths are more like 10 or 5 feet. According to project maps (Alternative Parking 1 and 2), Beth El’s proposed parking and drive-through area just barely overlaps the 60-foot-wide creek corridor. So, my

proposed compromise: The city deeds over Berryman Path to Beth El. Beth El moves the parking area 20 feet north, daylights the creek, builds a 5-foot-wide walking and biking path next to the creek, and gives the city a permanent easement for public use of the new path.

Beth El would still have to make some other changes in their plan, for instance moving the fenced perimeter and building at least one pedestrian bridge over the creek. However they would be getting a large chunk of extra land for their trouble, which seems like a good deal. Also, this idea doesn’t solve any of the non-creek-related objections to the project, but my impression is that those objections are secondary and Beth El has already done a reasonable job of addressing them.

A man undergoes brain surgery and experiences a transformation of his life in the quirky and well-performed, but otherwise surprisingly bland 1998 opera “A New Brain,” which Shotgun Players opened Saturday as its latest show at Julian Morgan Theater in Berkeley.

The play is Shotgun’s first presentation ever of a musical show. “A New Brain” is a substitute for the previously scheduled hip-hop play “One Size Fits All,” which fell through at the eleventh hour.

The current production of “A New Brain” was originally staged as a student theater project on the UC Berkeley campus for three weekends in March. The show is well performed by a cast of largely current and former Cal students.

“A New Brain” was originally produced at New York’s Lincoln Center in 1998, with music and lyrics by William Finn, and a book co-authored by Finn and James Lapine. Lapine is best known for his co-authorship of Stephen Sondheim’s dark fairy tale musical “Into the Woods.”

In “A New Brain,” songwriter Gordon Schwinn (Jeffrey Meanza) cooks up ditties for a children’s television show that he hates, worrying that his life and talent are passing him by at the expense of his more important artistic work. Then an illness sends him suddenly into a medical facility for brain surgery.

Most of the opera is set in a hospital. The style is sort of a song and dance fantasy variety show. From his hospital bed, Gordon catalogues his fears, memories and fantasies as friends and hospital staff bounce back their own concerns to him and others.

“A New Brain” is filled with odd, quirky touches, such as Gordon’s boyfriend Roger (Austin Ku) showing up very late and singing a ballad “I’d Rather Be Sailing.” But in general, the Finn/Lapine story is unfocused, with many subplots from the secondary characters going on at the same time as Gordon’s ailment.

In fact, the character of Gordon is one of the play’s big weaknesses. Gordon suffers from the boring-and-ineffectual-hero syndrome of many contemporary plays and novels, and there is just not enough going on at the center of his story.

Most of Gordon’s time on stage is a waiting game during his hospital stay, without strong or distinctive dramatic story points. In fact, the secondary characters in the play, who have their own stories, are frequently more interesting people than Gordon.

Swishy male nurse Richard (Malcolm Darrell), for example, sings of being poor, unsuccessful and fat, in a song that segues into Gordon’s similar fear that he has no real artistic talent. Later in “Eating Myself Up Alive,” Richard expresses his fears of obesity.

Hillary Kaye is a presence as Gordon’s brassy and controlling, but compassionate mother. She sings a wonderful ballad “The Music Still Plays On,” about the lost love that still lingers in her heart for her irresponsible former husband.

Kaitlin L’Italien appears from time to time as a street person seeking change, romance, and free existential therapy clients. David Neufeld is a sinister brain surgeon, off to see the musical “Chicago” with his kids, as relaxation before surgery.

Enver Gjokaj displays a lot of physical performance talent as the obnoxious, sadistic clown and children’s television host Mr. Bungee, although this character seems familiar in an era of Krusty the Clown from “The Simpsons,” or even Chuckles from “A Thousand Clowns.”

Overall, this is a talented bunch of youthful performers – a solid testimony to Cal’s theater program. The play is very well staged by director Yuval Sharon, with crisp singing and dancing. I guess the play’s theme is to try and understand the brain of a perhaps untalented man who wants to write art, but who does commerce instead. But for me there is very little in the way of new ideas or fresh characters brought to the task in this script.

And one question I kept asking myself as the medical procedures got more and more complex: Where the heck did Gordon get his great health insurance?

Planet theater reviewer John Angell Grant has written for “American Theatre,” “Backstage West,” “Callboard,” and many other publications. E-mail him at jagplays@yahoo.com

The 86-year-old Claremont Hotel Resort and Spa, among the most majestic buildings in the Bay Area, was nominated for historical landmarking this month, causing surprise among many who automatically assumed it was already a landmark.

The Claremont Application Committee, a subcommittee of Berkeley-Oakland Neighbors of the Claremont, submitted the 26-page nomination document, along with 44 photos and graphics to the Oakland Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board on May 14, which began the process of making the Claremont an Oakland landmark.

The CAC also submitted a petition signed by 650 local residents who support the landmarking.

The 279-room Claremont Hotel is nestled in the foothills at the mouth of Claremont Canyon in Oakland immediately adjacent to Berkeley. The mostly Tudor Revival-styled hotel also boasts a newly remodeled resort and spa.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for the people of the East Bay to landmark a very important building,” said committee Chairman Wendy Markel. “It will be nominated for the state and federal register as well.”

Markel said the effort to nominate the building began when a group of neighbors heard of plans to expand the hotel. The KSL Resort Corp., a billion dollar luxury resort chain, which bought the hotel three years ago for $88 million, announced plans last August to expand the resort by 86 guest units, 75 time-share villas and a three-story parking garage.

Another controversial proposal for a $15 million-overhaul of the Lake Chabot Municipal Golf Course was called off in April because of the softening of the economy, according to a prepared statement by KSL Vice President Gary Beasley.

“There is a connection between the landmarking effort and the hotel’s plan to expand,” said Markel. “The landmarking of the hotel won’t preempt any expansion but it would create another step before any expansion approved.”

Markel said many of the neighbors involved in BONC were surprised when they found out the hotel did not have local, state or federal landmark status.

“The City of Oakland has given it an A1 rating as a historically significant building but it has no official status as a landmark,” she said.

Vice President and general manager of the hotel, Ted Axe, said he shared the same amazement as the hotel’s neighbors about the hotel’s lack of historical status.

“We’re very supportive of the effort and we’re looking forward to working with BONC,” he said.

He said the plans to develop on the 22-acre site are currently on hold. “The economy is softening and hotel occupancy is down nationwide,” he said. “The fact is we just don’t know what we’re going to do.”

The Oakland Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board will hold a meeting on the nomination on June 11 and is expected to make a decision on July 9. If the advisory board approves the nomination the matter will then go to the Oakland Planning Commission, which will make a recommendation to the Oakland City Council.

The nomination document, which took six months to complete, is available for viewing at Berkeley’s Claremont Library, 2940 Benvenue Ave., the Oakland Public Library History Room and the Rockridge and Montclair libraries.

For more information about the landmarking process go to www.saveclaremont.org.

OAKLAND – House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Missouri, joined congressional representatives from the Bay Area Tuesday at the Ron Dellums Federal Building to take a hard look at the energy crisis in a forum not lacking in commentary on the president’s arrival in California the same day.

U.S. Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland; Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma; Ellen Tauscher, D-Walnut Creek; and Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco heard from advocates for various groups particularly affected by the crisis, then listened to those who had ideas on its solution. The congressional delegation had ideas of its own on immediate answers.

“We know that price caps are an immediate solution to this problem. That is what we have all embraced and are suggesting and insisting on,” Lee said.“Our leader, Congressman Dick Gephardt, met with our delegation and embraced our strategy immediately, because he knew that our delegation was suggesting the most realistic, the most practical and the most visionary solution to California’s energy crisis.”

Gephardt affirmed the need for price caps, on which Gov. Gray Davis is also insisting.

“Your entire delegation on the Democratic side and some Republicans are fighting to try to bring about a price cap on wholesale electric prices now as a temporary and important answer to this problem,” Gephardt said.

“From what I understand California paid a year ago about $7 billion for energy. If these prices that you’re facing now – and are likely to face in the next year – keep going up, you will be spending in the next year about $70 billion for energy.

“That is a 10 (fold) increase in the price of energy (and) will devastate the economy of California Washington and Oregon. And I predict that other places in the country are going to face these kinds of increases.”

“I am glad that President Bush is making his first trip to California of his presidency today,” Gephardt said. “Many people believe that he wrote off the state of California. He has a chance to finally take action to stop electricity price gouging and give people real relief from soaring electricity bills.”

Gephardt urged Bush to make good on his campaign promises and put pressure on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase sales of petroleum.

“In two weeks OPEC meets again. I hope President Bush follows through on his campaign rhetoric and calls OPEC to reverse the 3 million barrels-a-day production cuts they have announced since November of last year,” Gephardt said.

Advocates of those for whom the energy crisis has been particularly difficult had much to tell the public officials.

Ethel Long Scott, executive director of the Women’s Economic Agenda Project, a nonprofit organization assisting low-income women to achieve a livable wage, said price gouging is complicating the lives of many low-income citizens so profoundly, there often seems no right decision to make.

“(Low-income families) suffer because they’re forced to make impossible choices,” Long Scott said. “Do I pay this exorbitant energy bill, or pay the rent? Do I pay this exorbitant energy bill, or buy food? Do I pay this exorbitant energy bill, or buy medicine or books for our children?”

Out of these questions, Long Scott found her own to pose to the congressional representatives present.

“Will you recommend a real cure?” she asked. “By that I mean, a move to take over the power plants in the name of the little people who can afford nothing less?”

Francie Moeller, president of Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance Services, spoke on behalf of the disabled, and posed equally difficult questions.

“Unlike some other people, when the energy crisis hit, many, many disabled lives were being put at risk on a daily basis. Every time there is a power outage we are risking lives. We’ve had people who’ve been cut off while they were on ventilators, while they were on oxygen machines, while they were on dialysis machines.”

And these are the life-endangering issues, Moeller said.What about the other problems that are only supremely inconvenient? What happens, she asked, when

someone in a wheelchair exits a BART train and hears on the loud-speaker that no elevators are working?

Mary Frances Calan, superintendent of the Pleasanton Unified School District, talked about how the crisis affects schools.

The energy costs of the Pleasanton district have doubled in three years, and if that additional money were returned to its budget, Calan said, every school in the district could have a half-time fully-credentialed librarian and an additional half-time counselor as well as a total of 9,000 more textbooks and 23,000 additional library books for the entire district.

“I’ve put this in dollars and cents,” Calan said, “because I think that’s probably a clearer way of explaining it, but I am not even touching on the safety issues and the learning environment.”

During the second part of the forum, speakers sought to give answers.

Mark Levine, director of Environmental Technologies at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, emphasized the importance of this intention.

“I’m really interested in talking about solutions,” Levine said. “It’s hard living in California, hearing only about the problems all the time.”

Levine pointed to the Web site the Berkeley Lab has put together to help make the U.S. Department of Energy’s “20-20 Plan” a reality for all Californians. The web address is: http://savepower.lbl.gov.

The DOE’s 20-20 Plan says that any Californian who succeeds in saving 20 percent of the energy used the previous year in a given household will receive an additional 20 percent rebate.

“For 20 percent savings you get 40 percent,” Levine said.

Levine also introduced several products developed by the Berkeley Lab, such as a compact fluorescent lamp and windows that will help decrease energy use.

Gephardt talked mostly about a political solution, pushing for the passage of a bill moving through congressional committees that would require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to set price caps.

“I think at the end of the day, the President and FERC have to do this in the name of common sense,” Gephardt said, “to help the people of the West Coast, and to avert what will be not only be an electric crisis, but will ultimately be an economic crisis throughout the United States.”

Pat Graef of Acton Street in Berkeley won $250 last week in the Cash for Trash Contest. She was very pleased to win but admittedly would have preferred the previous week’s prize of $2,700.

A diligent recycler, she was familiar with the contest but hadn't read the details carefully. So she was surprised to hear that the prize was cumulative and that last week's prizewinners, the Falck-Fountain family of South West Berkeley, won $2,700. That large detail aside, she was very happy to be a contestant – “Participating in the contest gave me the information I needed to confirm I am recycling right.”

Not only is she recycling right, she is doing a great job! Not one recyclable was found in her 13-gallon trash cart - just film plastic, tissue and food waste. For when she has more then 13 gallons of trash or items that she can't recycle or reuse, she keeps prepaid trash bags from the City on hand.

The Ecology Center Curbside Program, the City of Berkeley Plant Debris program, Bay Area Creative Reuse, and Goodwill are the recycling programs she uses regularly. A Bank of America consulting system engineer who telecommutes a few days a week, she also recycles at work and when ever possible uses her own containers for deli take-out and cloth bags for shopping and other errands.

The Cash for Trash Contest is an outreach project of the Ecology Center and the City of Berkeley, funded by the Alameda County Source Reduction and Recycling Board.

Since February, we have awarded $3,900 to Berkeley residents for recycling well, and have another $2,600 to distribute before the contest ends in mid-July. Limited to Berkeley residents, employees of sponsoring organizations are not eligible nor are building of 10 units or more.

For official rules and more information visit www.ecologycenter.org. or call the Ecology Center Recycling Hotline at 527-5555

OAKLAND – The debate over the last medical waste incinerator in California, the Integrated Environmental Systems plant in Oakland goes on, as high school students from a Catholic high school in Hayward march and rally at the site Tuesday afternoon.

Students from the Moreau Catholic High School were joined by priests, environmentalists, community activists, parents and supporters at a march that began at the Fruitvale BART station and progressed up International Boulevard toward the incinerator, which is in Oakland's Fruitvale District.

The group is still at the site this afternoon.

The students are holding a prayer service to express their solidarity with all of the students who live near the site, who they claim are being exposed to toxins such as dioxin.

Their purpose is to get IES management to stop incinerating at the site, and opt instead for safer technology.

The East Oakland site has

been the target of many

similar marches.

IES representatives say their facility does not emit the pollutants, and that it operates at levels that are above regulatory standards.

They say that the facility also employs other disposal methods, but that state law requires certain items to be incinerated.

Last month, IES official and community activists seemed to be on the verge of reaching a compromise, being worked out by Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, to reduce incineration at the plant.

The negotiations stalled, however, and De La Fuente stepped away, saying he would only continue as mediator if both sides were willing to give some ground on their positions to reach an accord.

SAN FRANCISCO — A gay psychiatrist owes the U.S. Air Force more than $71,000 for his top-notch education because he failed to fulfill his active duty obligation, a judge has ruled.

In a decision made public Tuesday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup said John Hensala, a former U.S. Air Force captain, should be required to pay back the government because he voluntarily came out as gay and should have known the consequences of violating the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

”(Hensala) presumably understood that the Air Force would follow its own rules and what the likely consequences of his acts would be,” Alsup wrote. “It is not unreasonable to infer that one intends the probable and foreseeable consequences of deliberate conduct.”

Hensala, 36, a San Francisco psychiatrist in private practice who sued last May, said he shouldn’t have to repay the money because he wanted to serve, but the Air Force refused to let him because he announced he was gay.

Hensala was honorably discharged after telling his superiors in 1994 that he’s gay. He claimed he wanted to serve honestly and had no reason to believe he would be automatically discharged after his announcement.

The Air Force contended Hensala announced he was gay simply to avoid active duty military service.

“I came out to them for my mental health and well being as a human being, not for any other reason. And I wanted to serve openly,” Hensala said Tuesday afternoon. “As a psychiatrist, I couldn’t in good conscience serve in the closet. My job is to help people live more honestly.”

The government paid for Hensala’s education at Northwestern University’s medical school under a program that required four years of active duty military service after graduation. He put off that service twice — during a three-year residency at Yale, and a two-year fellowship at the University of California at San Francisco.

In December 1994, the Air Force reminded Hensala his military service would begin the following year. Days later, Hensala announced he was gay.

The judge agreed his timing may have been suspect.

Although Alsup acknowledged that Hensala was never directly asked whether he knew discharge was imminent after he came out as gay, “There is still substantial evidence supporting the conclusion that plaintiff made the declarations for the purpose of seeking separation,” the judge said.

Hensala’s lawyer, Clyde Wadsworth, said he planned to appeal Alsup’s decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“We are deeply disappointed with the court’s order,” he said. “We think that it’s simply wrong.”

Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said his office had not yet seen the decision and refused to comment.

LOS ANGELES — The white abalone, a tasty Southern California mollusk whose numbers have dropped from the millions in the 1970s to perhaps a few thousand, officially became an endangered species Tuesday.

The listing by the National Marine Fisheries Service will not affect fishermen because the state has banned taking the species since 1996. But environmentalists are hopeful the decision will bring in more funding to help the abalone’s numbers rebound.

The decision means federal agencies must act to help keep the white abalone from going extinct, but it may be too late to save it, said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, the environmental group that filed a petition asking for the listing in 1999.

“Twenty years ago if this thing been listed, our options for saving it would’ve been much better,” Suckling said. “At this point, I am not at all optimistic we can pull these things back from the brink.”

Shellfishermen around the Channel Islands, off the coast near Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, began diving for white abalone in the late 1960s. Commercial landings of the species peaked at more than 144,000 pounds – or about 86,000 abalone – in 1972. But harvesting of the mollusk collapsed just a few years later – in 1978, commercial divers hauled in less than 5,000 pounds.

Studies once estimated the white abalone population at about 2 million, with one estimate as high as 4 million. Now the NMFS estimates the population at about 1,600 to 2,500.

“Lots of them were taken, and now the density of animals in the wild is extremely low,” said NMFS fisheries biologist Craig Wingert.

With abalone thinly scattered along the coast, it’s extremely hard for them to reproduce. It becomes very difficult for sperm released by a male mollusk to reach eggs if the male is more than a yard or two from a female.

NMFS is looking at two options for recovery: breeding abalone in a lab and releasing them, or moving wild abalone closer to each other to improve their chances of reproducing.

A multiagency team focused on restoring the abalone announced last month that it successfully spawned the species in a lab, creating more than 6 million eggs. In three to four years, the Abalone Restoration Consortium plans to begin releasing about 10,000 adult abalone a year into the ocean.

NMFS declined to declare critical habitat for the abalone, saying it could actually hurt the species’ prospects because poachers would know where the mollusk could most likely be found. The Center for Biological Diversity – which has often sued to establish critical habitat for endangered species – had requested such a designation, but Suckling said this is “most certainly not a clear-cut case” in which critical habitat is necessary.

The listing was the first of a marine mollusk, but probably won’t be the last. The black abalone, another California species, is on NMFS’s list of endangered species candidates, and Suckling said his Tucson, Ariz.-based center plans to ask for a listing of that species as well.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came hours before California Gov. Gray Davis urged President Bush in a meeting to cap wholesale power costs, which have been spiraling out of control. The president refused.

The panel, in a brief statement, said last week’s appeal by state Senate President John Burton and state Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg does not warrant “intervention of this court.”

The lawmakers, both Democrats, were joined by the city of Oakland in their appeal to the 9th Circuit.

“The citizens of California are suffering immediate irreparable harm as a result of FERC’s abrogation of its duty to establish just and reasonable rates for electricity,” they wrote to the 9th Circuit.

The lawmakers said California’s looming threat of continued blackouts “are an imminent threat to the health, welfare and safety of every California citizen.”

Davis and Hertzberg said they would study the ruling with their attorneys before deciding whether to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The suit came after more than a year of wholesale power prices reaching historically high levels. In December, prices in California reached $200 per megawatt hour – and they have skyrocketed to as much as $1,900 per megawatt hour during peak times since then.

Vice President Dick Cheney, chief architect of the administration’s energy plan, has said capping prices would not increase energy supplies or reduce demand.

“We get politicians who want to go out and blame somebody and allege there is some kind of conspiracy ... instead of dealing with the real issues,” Cheney has said.

Cheney criticized Davis, a Democrat, for what he called a “harebrained scheme” to use the state’s budget surplus to buy power because California’s two largest utilities face enormous financial problems.

For the short term, the Bush administration has approved Davis’ request to expedite permits for new power plants and has ordered federal facilities in California to reduce energy consumption 10 percent this summer.

Sacramento and the White House appear locked in a high-voltage war of rhetoric over energy policies. There is broad bipartisan dissatisfaction in Sacramento with Washington’s response to California’s energy crisis — the result of its own 1996 deregulation rules.

Last month FERC did order a one-year cap on electricity sold into California during power emergencies, when power reserves fall below 7 1/2 percent. The agency did not set a price and also required the state to join a regional transmission organization, which could limit California’s ability to control its own power grid.

Davis called the plan a “Trojan horse,” and state power regulators dismissed the cap as inadequate, saying it would profit power generators at ratepayers’ expense.

In addition, Davis and state lawmakers sharply criticized FERC for considering requiring the state’s power grid operator to add a surcharge on power sales to pay generators the money they are owed by the state’s two large financially strapped utilities.

NO AGREEMENT

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Gray Davis said Tuesday he and President Bush have a fundamental disagreement over whether California is entitled to energy price relief.

“My view is I think we are entitled to relief as a matter of law,” Davis told reporters at the Century Plaza Hotel minutes after meeting with Bush.

Davis said he told Bush he intends to do everything, including suing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, to bring price relief to California.

“I said, ’Mr. President, you understand I have to do everything in my power to seek relief for the people of this state. You would do the same thing if you were in my position,’ and he agreed,” Davis said.

“And among the things I am going to have to do are sue the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ... and pursue every avenue in the Congress,” he said.

Davis said the meeting was cordial and that Bush listened as he presented his side, but would not agree to price controls.

SACRAMENTO — The state Senate voted Tuesday to require health officials to set drinking water limits for chromium-6, the substance that gained notoriety in the Julia Roberts film “Erin Brockovich.”

The bill, by Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, would require the state Department of Health Services to set a maximum allowable limit for chromium-6 in drinking water by Jan. 1, 2004.

Chromium is a natural element that has two basic forms: chromium-3, an essential nutrient, and chromium-6, a carcinogen when inhaled.

Public health agencies have not yet determined if chromium-6 is a carcinogen when ingested, but the Department of Health Services and Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment announced in March that they would evaluate whether chromium-6 should be regulated as a drinking water contaminant.

The Senate voted 23-7, without debate, to send the Ortiz bill to the Assembly.

“Erin Brockovich” is based on a 1996 case in which residents of the California desert town of Hinkley won a $333 million settlement from Pacific Gas & Electric when the utility company’s tanks leaked high concentrations of chromium 6 into ground water.

Roberts won an Oscar for her portrayal of a law firm assistant who curiosity about illnesses in Hinkley led to the settlement.

SUSANVILLE— A raging 4,100-acre forest fire forced evacuations of 60 homes and a hospital, coating the town of Susanville with dark soot and giving firefighters an unwelcome taste of what could be ahead this summer.

“This is the closest I’ve seen a fire to Susanville in my life,” said Bob Garate, 45, a former firefighter whose home was threatened by the blaze. “I haven’t seen dry conditions like this since 1977. We’re in for a long, hard summer.”

The fire, which had burned to the city limits and was within a quarter-mile of an RV park, was one of several burning Tuesday in the region. Susanville, with a population of 17,500, is located about 80 miles northwest of Reno, Nev.

Firefighters battled a 6,500-acre wildland blaze near Pyramid Lake, about 40 miles north of Reno. And there was a fire about 250 miles southwest of Susanville in the Mendocino National Forest, where 145 acres have been scorched. That one was expected to be extinguished by Thursday, said forest spokeswoman Phebe Brown.

In New Mexico, firefighters braced for hot, dry, windy weather in their battle against a blaze that has scorched about 1,400 acres of the Guadalupe Mountains in an unpopulated area of the Lincoln National Forest.

At a Denver news conference Tuesday, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said the summer is shaping up as one of the worst in decades for wildfire potential.

“This is the second-driest year in the last 100 years in the Pacific Northwest,” she said, adding that millions of federal acres need to be cleared of underbrush.

Last year was the worst for fires in a half-century, with 93,000 wildfires damaging 7.3 million acres.

The Susanville blaze started about seven miles west of town Sunday on private timberland after being sparked by a man shooting targets in the woods, said state Dept. of Forestry spokeswoman Wendy McIntosh. The man, whose name was not released, was cited for causing a fire and letting it escape.

“This is an August fire in May, and you have to wonder where it’s going to go from here. It could be a long, expensive summer,” said fire information officer Steve Harcourt.

“These people are fortunate because this fire happened early in the summer when there were adequate resources to fight it. The calvary may not be able to be there later this summer when there are too many fires.”

Fire officials said the blaze was about 35 percent contained. About 1,300 firefighters tried to slow the flames’ advance using fire engines and bulldozers to build a fire line. Seven air tankers and a dozen helicopters also were used.

“We’re making good progress, but the threat to Susanville is not over,” said fire information officer Steve Gasaway. “We’re still worried about high winds and what they could do to the fire.”

Two firefighters were injured while battling the blaze, including one with a possible broken arm.

The fire skirted eight homes, coming as close as 30 feet to some of them. About 140 residents were evacuated, but were allowed to return to their homes late Tuesday morning.

Lassen Community Hospital had to evacuate 25 patients Monday night when the fire burned with a quarter mile of the facility, said Laura Lang, executive assistant at the 59-bed hospital.

“We had quite a few embers blowing this way and the smoke was very thick. For health reasons, and just to calm the patients, we evacuated them,” Lang said.

McIntosh said two Susanville-area residents suffered minor injuries, but no structures had been damaged or destroyed.

Residents in the area are accustomed to fires, but this one was too close for comfort, said Dan Merritt of the Susanville Interagency Fire Center.

“It’s not uncommon for there to be forest fires in the area, but this is the closest it’s come to town in the 35 years since I’ve been here,” Merritt said. “It’s also the earliest we’ve had a major forest fire in those 35 years.”

Evacuees were asked to check in at Lassen High School. By 10 p.m. Monday, 15 people had arrived at the school to spend the night on cots. Roger Bailey and his wife, Jean, took refuge there after they were forced to evacuate their home.

Cars traveling Susanville’s streets had to use headlights to cut through the thick soot and smoke in the air. Elementary, junior high and high schools in Susanville were closed Tuesday due to concerns about air quality.

PALO ALTO — After nearly a decade of development and two years of delays, Intel Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. on Tuesday launched the first in a new generation of microprocessors they hope will dominate the next era of computing.

The Itanium processor, developed by both companies, is designed for workstations and servers – machines that power Web sites, sift through data and run scientific applications.

As prices in its core PC business slide, Intel hopes Itanium will capture a slice of the high-end server and workstation market dominated by Sun Microsystems Inc. and International Business Machines Corp.

“This launch is not just important to us, it’s critical,” said Paul Otellini, executive vice president and general manager of Intel’s Architecture Group.

In a launch subdued in comparison to desktop processor introductions, Intel and Hewlett-Packard officials unveiled HP’s first broadly available Itanium machines Tuesday. Prices start at $7,000.

Dell, Compaq, IBM, Silicon Graphics Inc. also announced their first Itanium-based systems. All are expected to be available in June. In all, 25 computer makers are expected to offer more than 35 models this year.

The chips, which range in price from $1,177 to $4,227, are available at speeds of 733 megahertz and 800 MHz.

Some analysts, however, do not expect strong demand for machines based on the processor until Intel introduces the chip’s second generation, code-named McKinley, later this year.

“I didn’t think Itanium was going to be spectacular at launch because of the fact that essentially it’s a beta product for McKinley,” said Eric Ross, an analyst at Thomas Weisel Partners.

Intel spokesman Bill Kircos said faster and cheaper chips are always in the pipeline, and that it would not make sense to hold back a launch because something better will be available in the future.

The new processor, code-named Merced, processes information in 64-bit chunks, twice the rate of today’s PCs. As a result, the entire core, including software and secondary chips, had to be redesigned.

The processor’s development dates to the early 1990s, when HP and Intel started an alliance to develop advanced technologies. The alliance officially was announced in June 1994.

At the time, Intel engineers could see the limitations in their 32-bit processors that dominate the PC and low-end server markets. While adequate for personal computers, the architecture was not expected to keep pace with demands in future, high-end applications.

HP officials also were looking for partners in developing a next-generation architecture for their own systems. The company previously built its own processors. Under the deal, Intel and HP co-invented the new architecture, and Intel is producing the actual processors and is selling them to both HP and other computer makers.

HP said its products would benefit from the company’s intimate knowledge of the processor’s design. Executives refused to disclose whether HP will pay less or receive other benefits from the collaboration.

In 1998, Intel said it would not meet the planned late 1999 launch date. Last year, the world’s largest chipmaker announced yet another delay so that the processor could undergo further testing.

In the meantime, Sun Microsystems Inc. was able to get a leg up, introducing the second generation of its 64-bit processor last year.

“There is nothing in that announcement that anybody hadn’t been talking about for months, if not years,” he said. “There’s no news there.”

Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. also announced plans for a 64-bit architecture, which would extend the existing 32-bit architecture. Analysts believe AMD is focusing more on high-end PCs than servers.

NEW YORK — Merger talks between French telecommunications giant Alcatel SA and Lucent Technologies Inc. were called off Tuesday after intense negotiations over the long holiday weekend failed to produce an agreement.

In a statement, both companies announced that the negotiations in Paris had failed, but did not explain why talks were ended.

A source close to the negotiations said issues over corporate governance and management of the combined company were the main roadblocks preventing a deal.

A merger, with an estimated value of as much as $32 billion, would have marked one of the largest combinations of a U.S. technology group with a European company.

But Lucent officials balked because they did not believe that Alcatel was treating the deal as a merger of equals and acted as though the French firm were buying Lucent.

Analysts had said the new company would have a work force of more than 200,000 but would probably have had to cut 20,000 to 30,000 jobs to reduce costs.

Most job cuts resulting from the merger would probably have occurred in the United States, where the companies have the most overlapping operations, analyst Sean Faughnan of Goldman, Sachs & Co. wrote in a research note to clients.

Since January, financially plagued Lucent has announced plans to reduce its work force by up to 16,000 jobs as it streamlines operations and sells off some of its factories.

Analyst Steven Koffler of First Union Securities said Lucent faces an uncertain future without the backing Alcatel would have provided.

“This is going to be tough because of a lot of internal problems they’re having and because of the state of the industry right now,” he said.

Lucent, which was spun off from AT&T Corp. in 1996, is among the most widely held stocks in America. Lucent predecessor Bell Labs has been a wellspring of innovation over the years, with a role in developing the transistor, the laser and superconductors.

But Lucent has fallen on hard times amid a string of strategic missteps and profit disappointments that led to the ouster of chief executive Richard McGinn and a major restructuring. The company’s shares are hovering at about one-tenth of their all-time high, hit in late 1999.

Analysts said that a deal by Alcatel, which chief executive Serge Tchuruk has built into a diversified maker of cell phones, high-speed telecommunications equipment and Internet switches, would have made it a major player in the U.S. market.

More than half of Alcatel’s sales are in Europe, while 23 percent of its revenue comes from the United States.

In trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange, Lucent shares were down 11.5 percent, or $1.08, to close at $8.32 a share, while Alcatel’s U.S. shares were down 70 cents, or 2.5 percent, at $27.41.

In extended trading Lucent shares rose 3.4 percent, or 28 cents, at $8.60 a share, while Alcatel’s U.S. shares were up $1.79, or 6.5 percent, at $29.20.

NEW YORK — Technology stocks fell for a second straight session Tuesday as investors, unconvinced that the sector will recover by year’s end, cashed in profits from the market’s big spring rally.

Blue chips fared better, eking out a small gain as Wall Street shifted its focus to industrial and pharmaceutical issues.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 33.77 at 11,039.14, recovering from a brief dip below 11,000 during the session.

Broader stock indicators fell. The Nasdaq composite index was down 75.49 at 2,175.54, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 9.96 to 1,267.93.

The pullback following the recent runup in stock prices reflected concerns that earnings still aren’t likely to improve in the near term, analysts said. But with trading light as many people extended their holiday weekends, activity on Wall Street was largely a sign of profit-taking.

“The truth of the matter is you’re not going to see any positive signs for another three or four months,” said Charles White, portfolio manager at Avatar Associates.

“But I would hesitate to place any real significance on the price action today, just based on the fact that it’s happening in very low volume and very thin trade,” he said.

Selling was spread across the technology sector, but earnings news was paramount.

Sun Microsystems fell $1.80, to close at $18.67 in trading Tuesday. In extended trading, shares lost another $1.16, to finish at $17.51, after the company warned that fourth-quarter results would fall below already reduced expectations.

The bad news – and anticipation leading up to Sun’s announcement – gave investors more incentive to sell tech issues. Intel fell 22 cents to end at $27.63 in the after-hours session, compounding a $1.25 loss in regular trading.

EMC also fell, down 59 cents to $33.40 by the end of extended trading Tuesday, on top of a $3.11 loss in the regular session on news the company plans 1,100 job cuts.

Blue chips were boosted by gains in Merck, up $1.79 at $74.39, and DuPont, which rose $1.20 to $46.82.

Ongoing speculation about a merger between Lucent and Alcatel sent Lucent down $1.08 to $8.32, while Alcatel slid 70 cents to $27.41.

After regular trading ended, the companies said the merger talks had been terminated, but provided no other details. The decision sent both companies’ stocks higher in the extended session, with Lucent rising 28 cents and Alcatel picking up $1.79.

“I think this is just a pause that will refresh later on for the market,” said Steven Goldman, market strategist at Weeden & Co. “The overall market is holding up quite well.”

— The Associated Press

Investors also were digesting two reports Tuesday focusing on the role of consumers in the economy.

The Commerce Department reported consumer spending rose by 0.4 percent in April, its biggest increase since January, but showed a reduction in spending on big-ticket items such as cars. Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of all economic activity and has been a main pillar supporting the country’s economy.

A second report showed consumer confidence bounced back in May after a sharp decline in April, underscoring increased optimism about jobs and the future of the U.S. economy. The Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index rose to a greater than expected 115.5 from a revised 109.9 in April. Analysts were expecting a reading of 112.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 1.24 billion shares, up from 991.22 million in Friday’s pre-holiday trading.

“Obviously, this doesn’t effect the return of affirmative action. But it certainly tells all of the academic world and all of the qualified minorities that the board of regents of this university is no longer the sponsor of this divisive movement.”

The 1995 resolutions forbade considering race or gender in hiring, contracting or admissions at UC.

They also decreed that at least 50 percent of all admissions be based on grades alone – up from the previous minimum of 40 percent – and included a statement committing the university to promoting diversity by, among other things, considering students’ individual hardships.

The diversity statement has become the basis for a multimillion-dollar program aimed at getting more California public school students interested in and qualified for UC.

The new policies would affirm the diversity commitment, note that Proposition 209 does away with the need for a separate UC policy on race and refer the question of how many students should be admitted by grades alone to a faculty committee for review.

After race-blind admissions went into effect in 1998, admissions of blacks and Hispanics, traditionally underrepresented at UC, fell sharply.

At flagship Berkeley, admission of black students dropped nearly 70 percent, from 515 in fall 1997 to 157 in fall 1998.

Since then, the numbers have increased.

Blacks, Hispanics and American Indians comprised 18.6 percent of in-state freshman admissions at all eight undergraduate campuses this fall, compared to 18.8 percent in 1997.

Still, underrepresented minorities have yet to reach 1997 levels at the most competitive campuses.

Repealing the 1995 vote would “reassert UC’s commitment to welcoming students from all backgrounds,” Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, an ex-officio regent, said in remarks prepared for a speech at UC Davis last month.

“It would remove the UC as the ’poster child’ for the anti-affirmative action movement on America’s college campuses.”

Regent Ward Connerly, who wrote the 1995 resolutions, did not return a telephone call to The Associated Press on Friday.

The 1995 policies passed 15-10 on hiring and contracting and 14-10 on admissions (Bagley abstained from the admissions vote in return for getting the diversity statement added as an amendment).

Since then the political makeup of the board has changed as members finished their terms and were replaced by the state’s new Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.

Wilson made repealing affirmative action a cornerstone of his brief run at the Republican presidential nomination.

Davis, who was the state’s lieutenant governor in 1995 and therefore also an ex-officio regent, voted against dropping affirmative action. As governor, he has said he won’t go against Proposition 209; a spokeswoman said Friday he is reviewing the new proposal.

SAN JOSE — Trial begins this week for a former telephone repairman accused of an infamous act of road rage – throwing a woman’s little white dog into traffic after a minor accident.

Andrew Burnett, 27, could face up to three years in prison if convicted of killing Leo, the bichon frise. Burnett pleaded innocent last month.

The dog’s owner, Sara McBurnett, received supportive messages from animal lovers around the country after Leo was killed near the San Jose airport on Feb. 11, 2000.

McBurnett said her car tapped the bumper of a black sport-utility vehicle that had just cut her off. When the driver approached her car, she rolled down her window to apologize. Enraged, the man reached in and snatched Leo, threw him into oncoming traffic and fled, McBurnett said.

Initial hearings in the trial are scheduled for Monday, and prosecutor Troy Benson said he expects jury selection to begin Tuesday.

Burnett was arrested in December on charges he stole thousands of dollars worth of equipment from his former employer, Pacific Bell, and lied to get out of a speeding ticket.

SAN FRANCISCO — A 200-pound black bear crashed through a glass door and was holed up in a Hertz rental store in Salinas for 4.5 hours Friday before police officers closed off the street, surrounded the building and tranquilized the animal.

“We put up this big wrought iron fence eight feet high. The idea was to keep people out, but that sucker just jumped up on that thing and took about two seconds to just scale it,” said Quetzal Grimm, Hertz Equipment Rental branch manager. “He fell on the ground and then just bolted through one of the bottom panes of our doors.”

Grimm said the bear was not injured and was eventually found hiding beneath some doors leaning against a wall.

The sedated bear was carried from the store and taken by state Department of Fish and Game officials to be released into the wild.

Grimm said the glass door was the only thing damaged during the ordeal.

“He’s like the original Gentle Ben,” Grimm said. “It was amazing, and you can’t even say anything about it. It’s like, ’There’s a bear in your office!’ ”

Salinas Police Sgt. Roger Milligan said everyone involved took extra precautions not to harm the bear, following an incident last week where another black bear climbed a tree in downtown Carmel.

That bear fell 70 feet to its death after being shot with a tranquilizer dart. The bear suffered a ruptured liver, abdominal bleeding, broken ribs and a torn lung in the fall.

Milligan said Friday’s incident was a first in his 27 years with the department.

“I’ve had to deal with cows and steers and cattle, but not bears,” he said.

SAN FRANCISCO — In a blow to the logging industry, a federal appeals panel blocked the harvest of thousands of acres of old-growth forest in southwestern Oregon, ruling Thursday the federal government did not adequately address the plight of protected salmon.

The sweeping decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also may halt the proposed logging of hundreds of thousands of acres throughout California, Oregon and Washington state – all idled pending the panel’s ruling.

“This is a victory for salmon,” said Patti Goldman, of the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, which sued the government on behalf of a host of environmental and fishing groups.

In the Oregon case, the three-judge appellate panel said the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to adequately consider the harm logging would have on endangered salmon runs on 20 of 23 Umpqua National Forest and Bureau of Land Management parcels in the Umpqua River Basin around Roseburg, Ore.

The basin, comprising those lands draining into the Umpqua River, is home to Umpqua cutthroat trout and threatened runs of Oregon Coast coho salmon that are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The suit contended endangered Oregon salmon runs, which have been dwindling and have forced thousands of fisherman out of work, would be harmed by proposed logging from Douglas Timber Operators, a consortium of logging companies.

While fishing concerns heralded the ruling, logging interests said Thursday’s decision may doom harvesting federal lands throughout the West.

Mark Rutzick, Douglas Timber Operators’ attorney in Portland, said the court’s ruling may have created standards “that are impossible to meet.” The timber companies, he said, may ask the appeals panel to reconsider its decision or ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.

Even so, the federal government said it intends to have the acreage in question logged, but first must figure out how to satisfy the courts.

“We can’t move ahead with these timber sales yet,” said Rex Holloway, a National Forest Service spokesman in Seattle.

Bob Dick, of the American Forest Resource Council in Olympia, Wash., which represents a variety of logging companies in the West, said the “environmental community will be satisfied with nothing less than zero harvesting.”

He noted that 40 percent of the nation’s wood supplies are imported from countries with minimal or no environmental standards.

“Some people think we are cutting down trees for the perverse act of cutting down trees,” he said. “We’re not meeting demand in this country.”

Douglas Timber Operators’ case stems from 1999, when U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein of Seattle ordered the timber sales halted until the government could show that fish would not be harmed and the sales complied with the Clinton administration’s 1994 Northwest Forest Plan and the Endangered Species Act.

The Oregon case has wide-ranging implications for hundreds of thousands of acres the federal government has slated for logging in California, Washington state and other parts of Oregon.

The same federal judge who blocked the Umpqua River Basin logging also blocked logging on 170 parcels the government designated throughout the West. Judge Rothstein stopped logging in those states in December on the same grounds as she did for the Umpqua River Basin sites around Roseburg.

Under federal law, the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management were required to get a “biological opinion” from the fisheries service before proceeding with any logging plans in the Umpqua River basin, where fish runs have dipped into single digits in some years.

The appeals court, in agreeing with Rothstein, said the opinions did not address short-term effects on salmon, which run from the ocean to rivers to spawn, and the cumulative effects of all the proposed logging combined.

The panel said the government’s studies did not meet guidelines set out in Clinton’s forest plan. That plan, in response to the federal listing of the northern spotted owl, is aimed at balancing the demand for timber from public lands with the need to protect habitat for dwindling populations of fish and wildlife.

The plan covered 24.5 million acres of federal forest lands throughout the range of the spotted owl and reduced logging in Northwest forests by about 80 percent from levels of the 1980s.

The fisheries service issued biological opinions that logging in Oregon’s Umpqua River Basin, which resides within the northern spotted owl’s range, was not likely to jeopardize the cutthroat trout and the Oregon Coast coho salmon.

The appeals panel found that the government provided no scientific evidence to support its conclusion that new growth in logged areas would adequately offset the degradation caused by the logging projects to ensure the continued existence of the fish in question.

The court said that the government failed to consider short-term impacts and instead relied on the premise that the area would be restored in a decade. The government’s studies said the logging ultimately would not affect anadromous fish, which migrate from the ocean to rivers to spawn.

“This generous time frame ignores the life cycle and migration cycle of anadromous fish,” the court said. “In 10 years, a badly degraded habitat will likely result in the total extinction of the subspecies that formerly returned to a particular creek for spawning.”

Glen Spain, Northwest regional director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association Inc., a plaintiff in the suit, said the decision could help restore salmon stocks and eventually bring work to thousands who have lost their jobs.

“They were just assuming the fish would survive. You can’t do that,” Spain said.

Brian Gorman, a spokesman for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle, said he had just received the ruling and could not comment extensively.

“Obviously, we will do what the court tells us to do,” Gorman said. “It did seem to think we should have taken short-term effects on salmon habitat into greater consideration.”

LAFAYETTE – Contra Costa County health officials are completed a second day of clinic care and education Tuesday after an adult chaperone on a weekend camping trip was hospitalized with meningitis.

Contra Costa County communicable diseases program manager Sirlura Taylor said county public health director Wendel Brunner and county health services director William Walker were both out talking to worried parents and children at Lafayette and Burton Valley elementary schools today.

In addition, the officials scheduled a clinic at Lafayette to dispense prophylactic antibiotics until noon.

Taylor said the antibiotics are being provided to anyone who had contact with the unidentified man, who has been hospitalized for meningococcal meningitis at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek. Taylor said county health officials found out about the problem with the camping trip involving about 120 students in a call from the state health department Sunday night.

She said school officials immediately began calling parents with children on the trip to let them know about the clinics Monday and today.

Taylor said the disease is not a highly communicable one.

“It's not like measles or chicken pox, which is highly airborne and infectious,” Taylor said. “Meningococcal disease is spread by direct contact, eating out of same plate, drinking out of same glass.”

She said the reports of the disease this year have been widely publicized, however, even though its incidence is not particularly high this year

“It's been in the media a lot,” she said. “Actually Contra Costa County has not had as many cases this year as last year.”